What does the flag of Palestine mean?

Flag of Palestine: what does it look like?

You have probably seen it many times, whether in news reports, demonstrations or on social networks. The flag of Palestine is easily identifiable thanks to its three horizontal stripes, of equal width, black, white and green. On the left, on the side of the flagpole, a red triangle is superimposed on these bands.

Flag of Palestine: what do its colours mean?

So what messages does the flag of Palestine carry? If we pay attention to the colours, we can see that they are the so-called “pan-Arabic” colours used by a large part of the Arab countries. The pan-Arabic colours started to appear in 1917, during the Arab revolt. At that time, the Arabs of the Middle East wanted to free themselves from the domination of the Ottoman Empire. On the days of the struggle, they waved banners with white, red, green and black. White represents the Umayyads of Damascus, red the Hashemite descendants of Mohammed, green the Fatimids of Cairo and black the Abbasids of Baghdad.

But the Palestinians give another meaning to these colours: red is the blood of the fighters, black tells of the terror of the Nakba (1948 exodus), white refers to peace, but also to the courage of the Palestinians, and green, the colour of Islam, symbolises hope as well as the olive tree plantations.

What does the flag of Palestine refer to?

The flag of Palestine was first adopted in 1948, by the Arab High Committee, when an official government was proclaimed in Gaza. It was not until 2015, however, that the UN allowed the flag to fly in front of the UN headquarters. Despite this victory, Palestine continues to suffer great tensions on its territory and struggles to emerge from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The flag of Palestine was then displayed in the streets, beyond the borders, as a sign of struggle and of a much hoped-for peace.