New York city police department promoted Palestinian American Filastin Srour 38, to a captain, making her the first woman of Arab descent to reach one of the highest ranks in the NYPD.

Srour, born in the Bronx but her family came from Beit Nuba village in Palestine and later lived in Qalandia refugee camp near Jerusalem after leaving their village in the 1948 war, has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a master’s in forensic psychology.

Srour, according to local activists, played a big role in promoting the Palestinian issue in New York, the latest was convincing the NYPD to raise the Palestinian flag during the annual celebrations of national communities represented in the police department.