THE Palestinian flag is painted on a garage door on the lane behind the Jodi Stand.
It is depicted in a new mural pitchside at Dalymount Park, on one side of a woman in a headscarf with the Irish tricolour on the other.
And the tattered cloth atop the derelict Shandon Mill beside the Royal Canal has been replaced with the red triangle and black, white and green horizontal stripes, fluttering against the sky’s backdrop.
If the weather has been variable since the arrival of the Palestinian women’s team on these shores — taking refuge in O’Neill’s ponchos in Glendalough on Monday — the welcome has not.
The irony of being surrounded by her national colours in a foreign country is not lost on team manager Deema Said, 29, who explained: “We’ve seen our flag here more than we’d see it in Palestine as we’re not allowed to show as many flags.
“We know about the Irish/Palestinian solidarity, we studied the history.
“At the same time, it’s a different feel to see it with your own eyes. We have seen nothing but love from the Irish people.”
Dima Abdeen, the second youngest in the squad at 17, added: “The Irish people have shown us an overwhelming amount of love.
“People have been stopping us, giving us presents and gifts.”
Said, from Ramallah, is a former national team captain who decided to retire at the outbreak of the war, unable mentally, she said, to continue playing in the circumstances but keen to remain involved.
In any case, sport is suspended, given much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble.
But an invitation to play Bohs tonight was eagerly accepted.
Although the women’s side previously played in Brazil, it is the first time a Palestinian national team has played in Europe.
Today is the day upon which Palestinians commemorate their forced displacement by Israelis which began in 1948.
The head of the Palestinian FA, Jibril Rajoub — a prominent member of Fatah who has spent 17 of his 71 years in Israeli jails — said: “To come and play to mark the 76th anniversary of our Nakba is proof of our determination, commitment, steadfastness, and also to convey a message to Europe that it is time to raise a red card to Israel.
“Exposing our just cause through the ethics and values of football, I hope the impact in Europe is to recharge mental batteries when you consider policies, to save more blood and to stop suffering.
“And to understand that settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, by recognising the very existence of the Palestinian people and their right to have their own independent, sovereign state next to the state of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, is the only way to make business, even for the Israelis to enjoy peace and security.”
For teenager Abdeen, born and raised in the USA to Palestinian parents, playing for the national team is an expression of solidarity with extended family at home.
She said: “Being here, supporting them, wearing the flag and the name on my back, that means a lot.”