The Palestinian flag and the last Caliphate
by Afsana Nazmin & Muhammad Baruah
The history begins in 1909, when the Ottoman caliph Sultan Abdul Hamid II was overthrown by the Young Turks Revolution. These Young Turks Revolutionaries were Liberal thinkers, as well as followers of the secularist policies while promoting Turkish sentiments. This rising nationalism of the Turks was a topic of worry for the Muslims in Arabia, especially the people of the Hejaz region. The Arabs wanted to restore Abdul Hamid's monarchy, but there was no chance to do so. Hence, the Arabs formed a committee where they produced a set of demands for greater autonomy and equality within the Ottoman Empire, including for elementary and secondary education in Arab lands to be delivered in Arabic and for at least three Arab ministers in the Ottoman cabinet. These demands were rejected. The Arabs were also involved in nationalism after seeing the Turkish one. Many Arab nationalists were executed by the Ottoman government. This further raged the Arabs, and they finally decided to revolt. This revolt was led by Husayn ibn Ali, who was the sharif of Mecca and had become the king of Hejaz.
The Britishers showed interest in supporting the Arabs in their cause and had influenced Husayn to fight. Although the proclamation of independence of Husayn on 27 June 1916 mentions that he had religious reasons, and not nationalist ones to revolt against the Ottomans. Furthermore, The Sharif was cautious after discovering that the Ottomans planned to remove and possibly murder him. Hence, Husayn agreed to work with the British if they would support a wider Arab Revolt and the establishment of an independent Arab Kingdom. The British government had promised Husayn that a single independent Arab state would be formed which would include, in addition to the Hejaz region, the modern-day Jordan, Iraq, and most of Syria and the Palestine region. However, at the end of the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles turned Syria into a French League of Nations mandate and Iraq, Mandate Palestine and Transjordan into British mandates. Though the previous province of the Ottomans known as Vilayet of Hejaz became the Kingdom of Hejaz with Husayn ibn Ali as its King. Still, relations with the British Empire were further deteriorated when more European Jews moved to Palestine as the area was defined under the British rule. Husayn had refused to ratify the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, and in response to a 1921 British proposal to sign a treaty accepting the Mandate system, stated that he could not be expected to affix his name to a document assigning Palestine to the Zionists and Syria to foreigners (French).
In 1924, after the Caliphate of the Ottomans was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Husayn was proclaimed as Caliph. Husayn had previously not adopted the title because he didn't want it until the Ottoman caliphate existed, since he wanted to avoid dividing the Muslims. Husayn visited the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque where he received the allegiance of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. A further British attempt to reach a treaty failed in 1924 and negotiations were suspended. Within six months the British withdrew their support in favour of their new central Arabian ally Ibn Saud, who proceeded to conquer Husayn's kingdom/caliphate. This conflict between the two Arab states is known as the Saudi conquest of Hejaz, or the Second Saudi-Hashemite War, or the Hejaz-Nejd War. In 1925, this conflict ended and the region under the control of the Sharifian Caliphate was ceeded into the Saudi domain. Husayn's caliphate was opposed by the British and the Zionists, but he received support from a large part of the Muslim population at the time. Although Husayn lost Hejaz and was imprisoned by the British in Cyprus, he continued to use the title until his death in 1931. With the end of Sharifian Caliphate, Muslims lost the final standing caliphate and interestingly there has been no Caliphate after 1925 with the end of them (though in recent times, some terrorist organizations tend to call themselves as 'Caliphate' but little do they seem to know that the criteria of forming a Caliphate is to follow the Sharia (Islamic law) which doesn't allow the killing of innocents).
In this entire period of Middle Eastern turmoil and instability in the early 20th century, the Arab nationalists had adopted a flag which was used by Sharif Husayn in 1916 at the latest and quickly became regarded as the flag of the Arab national movement in the Mashriq (East). A modified version (changing the order of stripes) was used in 1920 as the official flag of the Kingdom of Hejaz. The flag continued to be used later when the Kingdom of Hejaz became Sharifian Caliphate. This was the exact same flag that was adopted by the Palestinians as well in 1948 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. But reportedly, the people of Palestine were using the flag since the 1920s during the time of Husayn ibn Ali, possibly because they too were interested in being part of Husayn's kingdom.
This flag which the Palestinians use even today was created as a variant flag during the Arab revolt in 1916. It displays the pan-Arab colours i.e Black, which represents the Abbasid/Rashidun Caliphate and symbolizes the defeat of enemies in battle, White, which represents the Umayyad caliphate and symbolizes purity and noble deeds, Green, which symbolizes the fertile Arab lands and Red, which represents the Hashemite dynasty and symbolizes the blood on the swords of muslim warriors. Even though the Sharifian caliphate ended a century ago, its message of standing against injustice lives on in the hearts of the modern Palestinians and many Arabs.
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