Flag of Palestine: photo, history of occurrence and today

Palestine is a territory in the Middle East that historically occupied the territory of Israel, part of Syria, Jordan, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, parts of Lebanon and the western bank of the Jordan River. Now there is no such thing as the state "Palestine", but there are partially recognized Palestinian territories. This territory is still "hot" on the international map of the world.

The flag of Palestine: photo

The national symbol of the state has the form of a rectangle, on which horizontally arranged bands of green, white, black colors. There is a triangle of red color at the flag pole. Officially, the flag of Palestine was approved in 1916.

The palette of the flag is not chosen by chance. The green color symbolizes the Fatimids, the red one - the Kharijit, the white one - the Umayyad, the black one - the Abassid. The flag of Palestine became the basis for the creation of national symbols of the following countries:

• Kuwait.
• Iraq.
• Syria.
• United Arab Emirates.
• District of Saudi Arabia under the name of Hijaz.
• Jordan.

Therefore it is not surprising that the flag of Palestine and Jordan are so similar. In fact, they are almost the same: a color palette and a red triangle are present on both flags. However, the flag of Jordan depicts a star in a triangle, and its proportions are greater than those of the flag of Palestine.

The emergence of the flag of the state

How did the flag of Palestine originate? This issue still remains not only controversial among historians, but also acquired a sufficient number of myths. There are several versions. According to the first version, Arab nationalists, who are members of the Literary Club, chose the colors of the national symbol in Constantinople in 1909. The choice was made under the influence of the poem Safi-Din al-Healy, who was a famous poet of the 13th century. According to the second version, members of the "Youth Arab Community", which was founded in 1911 in Paris, chose the color palette of the flag. According to the third version, the diplomat of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, Sir Mark Sykes, developed a national symbol of the state. Historians have not been able to figure out which version is correct. However, it is known that in 1917 Hussein bin Ali used it for the national movement in Mashriq.

The flag of Palestine in the United Nations

September 30, 2015 was a day of pride for Palestinians around the world. This is what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said about raising the flag of Palestine at the headquarters of the organization (New York, USA) and offices around the world. It used to be possible to raise the flags of countries that are official members of the UN. But in September, a resolution was adopted that allowed the lifting of the flags of countries that have observer status. Such a status has not only Palestine, but also the Vatican. The flag of Palestine will rise after all countries-participants of the UN.

Flag raising ceremony

In response to the resolution, the leader of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, said that from this day on September 30 will be the Day of the State Flag. The resolution was adopted on September 10, and the ceremony was held on September 30. The solemn event took place in the rose garden of the UN headquarters in New York, which is located on First Avenue (between 46th and 42nd streets).

The ceremony was attended by high-ranking officials of many member countries of the organization. However, the US and Israel disagreed with the adopted resolution and the raising of the flag of Palestine. This is explained by the US concern over the situation in the Middle East. But the US continues to make attempts to resolve the conflict between Palestine and Israel. As for Israel's position, this is due to concerns about the escalation of the situation in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of recognizing Palestine as a subject, not an object, of international relations.