On the Pan-Arab Origins of the Palestinian Flag

HISTORY MATTERS BECAUSE FACTS MATTER

On the Pan-Arab Origins of the Palestinian Flag:
Evolution and extent if its use

The flag identified today as the Palestinian flag is immediately recognizable. It has three horizontal stripes, black, white, and green, and a red triangle extending from the hoist. For many, it is a symbol of Palestinian identity and national aspiration. Yet, the flag is a product of early 20th-century pan-Arab political movements, and for decades after its creation, it functioned as a symbol of a broader Arab revival rather than a specific local group.

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The design of the Palestinian flag is directly derived from the flag of the 1916-1918 Arab Revolt. At that time, Arab leaders allied with the British against the Ottoman Empire. The new banner was intended to serve as a unifying symbol for the Arab forces rising against Ottoman rule.

The pan-Arab flag was commissioned by the British government and designed by Sir Mark Sykes (1879–1919), a British diplomat best known as the co-author of the Sykes–Picot Agreement. The original flag featured the same four colors that appear in today’s Palestinian flag: black, white, green, and red. Each color represents a prominent Arab dynasty from Islamic history: the Abbasids, Umayyads, Fatimids, and Hashemites, respectively.

This pan-Arab flag was not initially linked to any single territorial group or emerging nation-state. It was intended as a unifying symbol for all Arabs participating in the revolt against Ottoman rule. Afterwards, variants of the flag’s design were adopted by newly created Arab states and political movements across the Middle East and North Africa.

From the 1920s on, and especially during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, the pan-Arab flag began to be used more frequently. However, this flag was not exclusive to Palestinian Arabs and was always deployed in contexts wherever pan-Arab sentiment was present.

The distinct local association with Palestinian Arabs began solidifying after 1948 with the creation of the State of Israel and the War of Independence. In the immediate aftermath, Gaza was placed under Egyptian military control, and the nominally ruling All-Palestine Government officially adopted the flag. At that time, the Arab League recognized it as the flag representing Palestine, that is, the entirety of the territory of the British Mandate.

Despite the flag being intended to apply to the whole former British Mandate, it was only flown in Gaza. In the territory of the new State of Israel, the Israeli flag was the only one in use. In turn, in the areas commonly referred to as the West Bank, the only official flag was the Jordanian flag. Finally, when the Palestine Liberation Organization was established in 1964, it formally adopted the flag. After their unilateral declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988, the flag became its official emblem.

An important aspect of the Palestinian flag is that it is not unique in its design among the countries of the region. The flag of Jordan, for example, is almost identical, save for a white seven-pointed star in the red triangle.

The flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, i.e., Western Sahara, uses the same color arrangements with modifications such as the addition of an Islamic crescent and star. In d other countries such as Kuwait, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as some of the historical flags of Iraq and Syria, the same four colors appear in prominent arrangements.

This recurrence is a natural outcome of the fact that all these flags have a common origin:  the flag from the Arab Revolt of 1916-18.

In conclusion, the flag known today as a marker of Palestinian identity is historically a flag of pan-Arabism. Its adoption by Palestinian Arabs is relatively recent and reflects a shift from a broad regional movement to a specific local cause. As such, it is not surprising that the Palestinian flag is visually linked to the flags of several neighboring states.