The Palestinian flag is based on the Flag of the 1916 Arab Revolt, currently adopted by the State of Palestine and used to represent the Palestinian people

The common version concerning the origin of the flag entails that the colors were chosen by the Arab nationalist ‘Literary Club’ in Istanbul in 1909, based on the words of the thirteenth century Arab poet Safi a-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.

(Safi al-Din al-Hili, poet).

The flag was used by Sharif Hussein by 1917 at the latest and quickly became regarded as the flag of the Arab national movement.

On October 18, 1948, the all-Palestine Government adopted the flag of the Arab Revolt and the Arab League subsequently recognized it as the flag of Palestine. A modified version (changing the order of the stripes) has been used in Palestine at least since the late 1930s and was officially adopted as the flag of the Palestinian people by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964. On November 15, 1988 the PLO adopted the flag as the flag of the State of Palestine, and then it became widely used. Currently, it is officially the flag of the State of Palestine.