Thousands rejoice as US city renames street as 'Palestine Way'

The Palestinian community in Paterson city of New Jersey state in the United States celebrated the renaming of a part of a busy street to Palestine Way.

A foreign news agency reported that the renaming took place after unanimous voting last month. The renaming pays homage to the role played by the Palestinian community.

Thousands of people waving Palestinian flags celebrated the renaming of a section of a busy street to “Palestine Way” in the US city of Paterson. pic.twitter.com/xhdk1gprQP

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) May 16, 2022

The celebration, which was attended by around 5,000 people, saw musical performances and the selling of traditional clothes by the vendors.

Mayor Andre Sayegh, who is of both Palestinian and Syrian origin, said the Palestinian community have played a major part in the city’s development.

PALESTINE WAY in Paterson NJ🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 FREE PALESTINE♥️♥️ pic.twitter.com/ohyCwcCX25

— 🇵🇸جنين (@urfavpali) May 15, 2022

“Palestinians are making countless contributions to our communities every day in the United States of America,” he said as quoted by a foreign news agency. “History is happening here, when we finally unveil not Palestine Street, not Palestine Boulevard, but Palestine Way, because Palestinians always find a way.”

Councilman Alaa Abdelaziz, who is the first Palestinian-American councilman, said that the event will make them remember their origins.

“This allows us to always remember the Palestinian struggles overseas, “he said. “It’s a celebration, but it’s also showing that Palestinians are humans, we’re Americans, and we will never forget where we came from.”

The executive director of the Palestinian American Community Centre Rania Mustafa said the city hosts approximately 20,000 people in which most of them are of Palestinian origins.

She said it the object was to highlight the problems of Palestinian identity.