Palestinian key

The Palestinian key is the Palestinian symbol of homes lost in the 1948 Nakba, when more than half of the population of Mandatory Palestine were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias as part of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, and were subsequently denied the right to return.^[1][2] The key is considered part of a hope for return and a claim to the lost properties.^[3]

Palestinian key at a Nakba Day demonstration in Berlin

Young girl with a key symbol, Nakba Day, 2010, Hebron. The sign says: Arabic: حتماً سنعود فلسطين, romanized: We will return to Palestine

Description

The keys are large and old-fashioned in style.

Enlarged replicas are often found around Palestinian refugee camps, and used at pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world as collective symbols.^[3]

World's largest key

World's largest key (Guinness World Records), in the style of a Palestinian key representing the Nakba, in Katara, Doha, Qatar

Since 2016, a Palestinian restaurant in Doha, Qatar, holds the Guinness World Record for the world's largest key – 2.7 tonnes and 7.8 x 3 meters.^[4][5]

Gallery

• 
  Entrance to the Aida refugee camp, near Bethlehem
• 
  Palestinian art to symbolize United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194
• 
  A key as part of the Arabic word for "Peace" as West Bank Wall graffiti art
• 
  Outside Jericho, with the words "We will return..."

See also

• List of national symbols of Palestine