As a guide for Arab culture, UNESCO includes the "Palm" in its list of human heritage

Cairo said on Thursday that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has included the "palm tree" in the representative list of human heritage as a guide to Arab culture.

The Egyptian Ministry of Culture said in a statement that this was achieved during the participation of the Arab group in the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO, which was held in Colombia.

She added that "the palm tree is one of the symbols of the Arabism of the land and the human being, and recording the associated customs, traditions and traditions with UNESCO lists highlights the continuing endeavors to preserve the cultural heritage that characterizes Arab society."

She explained that the palm file is nominated by the OIC countries which are Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, Emirates, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania.

She added that the representatives of the participating Arab countries celebrated the acceptance of the file and its inclusion in the representative list of the human heritage, raising the flags of each country.

According to unofficial estimates, there are more than a hundred million palm trees in the world, and eighty million of them are in the Arab region.

Palm trees among the Arabs
Ancient sources refer to knowledge of ancient civilizations such as Babylon, Sumer and the Pharaohs of the palm, and in the Hammurabi manuscripts are provisions for the palm trees and the rules for planting them and penalties for cutting them, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) date palm is one of the oldest trees planted in ancient times.

In the Noble Qur’an, palm trees are mentioned in more than twenty places. In Arabic poetry, the palm tree is often praised or even spinned, as the poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli (1277-1349), who lived between Hilla, Mosul, Cairo, Mardin and Baghdad, says:

I have the fruits of loyalty for Sabri right when the passion turns

I have palm trees growing up because you have buried me

And the poet Al-Baghdadi Ali Bin Al-Jahm (803-863 AD) said:

Be like a palms of hatred, raised with bricks, and throw the best fruits