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. The key is considered part of a hope for return and a claim to the lost properties.Feldman, llana. 2008. Refusing Invisibility: Documentation and Memorialization in Palestinian Refugee Claims, Journal of Refugee Studies 21 (4): 4, page 503: "Anyone familiar with Palestinian visibility practices will certainly be aware of the importance of certain central objects within this field. Many refugees still have the keys to their houses in Palestine. Keeping these keys, and showing them to visitors and researchers, is part of a hope for return and a claim to these properties. Given this widespread practice, these keys, with their distinctive old-fashioned look, have also become symbols of refugee commitment to Palestine. At demonstrations in support of Palestinians one can often find people carrying enlarged replicas of these keys in the process transforming individual objects into collective symbols."
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.
Gallery
See also
List of national symbols of Palestine
References