National flag
This article is about the flag used to represent the modern State of Palestine. For the flag of the British Mandate, see
Flag of Mandatory Palestine
.
The
flag of Palestine
(
Arabic
:
??? ??????
?alam Filas??n
) is a
tricolour
of three equal horizontal stripes?black, white, and green from top to bottom?overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the
hoist
. It displays the
pan-Arab colours
, which were first combined in the current style during the
Arab Revolt
, and represents the
Palestinian people
and the
State of Palestine
.
Used since the 1920s, the Palestinian flag's overall design is almost identical to the
flag of the Arab Revolt
, with the pan-Arab colours representing four Arab dynasties: the
Hashemites
(red), the
Umayyads
(white), the
Abbasids
(black), and the
Fatimids
(green). It was flown during the
1936?1939 Arab revolt in Palestine
and has also been used extensively in the
Israeli?Palestinian conflict
, especially after it was officially adopted as the Palestinian people's flag when the
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) was founded in 1964. Since 2015, the State of Palestine has observed a Flag Day every 30 September to commemorate the first time that the Palestinian flag was flown at the
Headquarters of the United Nations
that year.
[2]
Since 2021, the Palestinian flag has been lowered to half-mast every 2 November to lament the
Balfour Declaration
, which was issued by the
United Kingdom
during
World War I
to express British support for a "
national home for the Jewish people
" in what was then
Ottoman Palestine
.
[3]
During the
Six-Day War
in 1967,
Israel
occupied the
Gaza Strip
and the
West Bank
, where it then outlawed the Palestinian flag. This ban remained in place until the early 1990s, when Israel and the PLO exchanged the
Letters of Mutual Recognition
and subsequently signed the
Oslo Accords
, thus legalizing the Palestinian flag.
[4]
In practice, however, although the Palestinian flag is flown by the
Palestinian National Authority
, it is still routinely confiscated by Israeli authorities throughout the
Israeli-occupied territories
.
[5]
In 2023,
Amnesty International
released a report condemning new Israeli government restrictions on displays of the Palestinian flag as "an attempt to legitimize racism" by suppressing "a symbol of unity and resistance to Israel’s unlawful occupation" in the
Palestinian territories
.
[6]
Owing to the mutual colour scheme, it is also common for a
watermelon symbol
to be displayed in lieu of the tricolour flag, as is the case in
Palestinian artwork
. Though it was originally used to defy Israeli restrictions on the flag between 1967 and 1993, the watermelon symbol continues to be used today as an expression of
Palestinian nationalism
worldwide.
[5]
Origin
The flag used by the Arab Palestinian nationalists in the first half of the 20th century is
the flag
of the 1916
Arab Revolt
. The origins of the flag are the subject of dispute and mythology. In one version, the colours were chosen by the Arab nationalist 'Literary Club' in
Istanbul
in 1909, based on the words of the 13th-century Arab poet Safi al-Din al-Hili:
Ask the high rising spears, of our aspirations
Bring witness the swords, did we lose hope
We are a band, honor halts our souls
Of beginning with harm, those who won't harm us
White are our deeds, black are our battles,
Green are our fields, red are our swords.
Another version credits the
Young Arab Society
, which was formed in Paris in 1911. Yet another version is that the flag was designed by
Sir Mark Sykes
of the British Foreign Office. Whatever the correct story, the flag was used by
Sharif Hussein
by 1917 at the latest and quickly became regarded as the flag of the Arab national movement in the
Mashriq
.
[7]
[8]
A modified version (changing the order of stripes) has been used in Palestine at least since the early 1920s
[9]
The Palestinian flag featured during the
1936?1939 Arab revolt in Palestine
, being held in most villages and the rural areas which were declared as "liberated zones".
[10]
On 18 October 1948, the flag of the Arab Revolt was adopted by the
All-Palestine Government
, and was recognised subsequently by the
Arab League
as the flag of Palestine. The flag was officially adopted as the flag of the Palestinian people by the
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) in 1964. On 1 December of the same year, the Executive Committee of the Liberation Organization established a special system for the flag specifying its standards and dimensions, and the black and green colors replaced each other.
[11]
On 15 November 1988, the PLO adopted the flag as the flag of the
State of Palestine
.
[11]
On the ground the flag became widely used since the Oslo Agreements, with the establishment of the
Palestinian Authority
in 1993. Today the flag is flown widely by
Palestinians
and their supporters.
[12]
[13]
[14]
Design
Specifications
Colour scheme
Colour scheme
|
Red
|
Black
|
White
|
Green
|
CMYK
|
0-82-77-6
|
100-100-100-99
|
0-0-0-0
|
100-0-64-40
|
HEX
|
#EE2A35
|
#000000
|
#FFFFFF
|
#009736
|
RGB
|
238-42-53
|
0-0-0
|
255-255-255
|
0-151-54
|
Interpretation
Usage in the Israeli?Palestinian conflict
Outlawed by Israel (1967?1993)
In 1967, immediately following the
Six-Day War
, the
State of Israel
banned the Palestinian flag in the occupied
Gaza Strip
and
West Bank
. A 1980 law forbidding artwork of "political significance" banned artwork composed of its four colours, and Palestinians were frequently arrested for displaying such artwork.
[15]
[16]
[17]
The ban was lifted after the signing of the
Oslo Peace Accords
in 1993.
[4]
Since 2014, Israeli police have had the authority to confiscate a flag if it is used in support of terrorism or disrupts public order.
[4]
Israeli police has been routinely confiscating flags.
[5]
In January 2023, Minister of National Security
Itamar Ben-Gvir
announced he had instructed the police to ban the flag's showcasing in public spaces.
[18]
[4]
Israel's restriction on the Palestinian flag were criticized by
Amnesty International
as an attempt to legitimize racism, adding that the Palestinian flag has been used for the past decades as "a symbol of unity and resistance to Israel’s unlawful occupation".
[6]
Watermelon symbol
The use of the
watermelon as a Palestinian symbol
has come as a response to Israel's confiscation of Palestinian flags.
[5]
Other pan-Arab flags
The flag is similar to that of
Syria
's
Ba'ath Party
, which uses the same shapes and colours but a 2:3 ratio as opposed to Palestine's 1:2, as well as the short-lived
Arab Federation
of Iraq and Jordan (which had an equilateral triangle at the hoist). It is also similar to the
Flag of Sudan
, the
Flag of Jordan
, and to the
Flag of Western Sahara
, all of which draw their inspiration from the
Great Arab Revolt
against
Ottoman
rule (1916?1918). The
flag of the Arab Revolt
had the same graphic form, but the colours were arranged differently (white on the bottom, rather than in the middle).
Variations
See also
Notes
- ^
"Flags of the World"
.
Archived
from the original on 9 December 2023
. Retrieved
2 April
2024
.
- ^
"Palestinians celebrate Flag Day marking two years since hoisting it at UN"
.
WAFA Agency
.
- ^
"Palestinian flag to be flown at half mast to mourn Balfour Declaration"
.
The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com
.
Archived
from the original on 1 December 2022
. Retrieved
22 April
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Kellman, Laurie (9 January 2023).
"Palestinian prime minister says Israel aims to topple the PA"
.
The Associated Press
.
Archived
from the original on 29 January 2024
. Retrieved
9 February
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The Palestinian flag: A target for 'erasure' by Israeli forces"
.
Archived
from the original on 6 March 2023
. Retrieved
31 May
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Israel/OPT: new restrictions on Palestinian flags an attempt to 'legitimise racism'
"
.
Amnesty International
. 11 January 2023.
Archived
from the original on 22 April 2024
. Retrieved
23 April
2024
.
- ^
Sorek, Tamir (2004). "The orange and the 'Cross in the Crescent': imagining Palestine in 1929".
Nations and Nationalism
.
10
(3): 269?291.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1354-5078.2004.00167.x
.
- ^
Easterly, William
(2006).
The White Man's Burden
. New York: Penguin. p. 238.
ISBN
978-1-1012-1812-9
.
A small sign of the artificiality of the Arab revolt is that Mark Sykes himself designed the flag of the Arabs as a combination of green, red, black, and white. Variations on this design are today the official flags of Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and the Palestinians.
- ^
"Archived copy"
.
Archived
from the original on 22 April 2024
. Retrieved
22 April
2024
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
Baruch Kimmerling (2003).
The Palestinian People: A History
. Harvard University Press.
Archived
from the original on 22 May 2023
. Retrieved
22 April
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"????? | ???? ????????? ?????? ?????????"
.
info.wafa.ps
.
Archived
from the original on 22 September 2022
. Retrieved
22 September
2022
.
- ^
"United Nations Security Council: The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question"
. 2 June 2008. Archived from
the original
on 2 June 2008
. Retrieved
20 May
2017
.
)
Mr. Terje Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General: "[Arafat] with the trademark kaffiyeh epitomized Palestinian identity and national aspirations, even more than the Palestinian flag or the national anthem."
- ^
"Palestine"
.
Flags of the World
.
Archived
from the original on 11 January 2020
. Retrieved
25 March
2008
.
The Palestinian flag represents all Palestinian Arab aspirations regardless of party.
- ^
Efaw, Jamie.
"Palestinian Psychological Operations: The First Intifada]"
.
AmericanDiplomacy.org
.
Archived
from the original on 6 October 2012
. Retrieved
25 March
2008
.
An example of a common, obvious symbolism came in the form of the Palestinian flag. [...] the flag and the colors transmitted the message to all target audiences the underlying theme of the entire Intifada?Palestinian nationalism. The flag, the symbol of Palestinian nationalism, was ubiquitous in the occupied territories.
- ^
Kifner, John (16 October 1993).
"Ramallah Journal; A Palestinian Version of the Judgment of Solomon"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
21 May
2010
.
- ^
Dalrymple, William (2 October 2002).
"A culture under fire"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
21 May
2010
.
- ^
"The watermelon makes a colourful interlude"
.
The Age
. Melbourne. 12 September 2004.
Archived
from the original on 10 October 2017
. Retrieved
25 March
2008
.
- ^
"Israel security minister bans Palestinian flag-flying in public"
.
The Guardian
. London. 9 January 2023.
Archived
from the original on 17 January 2023
. Retrieved
9 January
2023
.
- ^
Breschi, Roberto.
"Palestina"
.
www.rbvex.it
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2019
. Retrieved
25 July
2019
.
External links
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National coats of arms
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