In the past few months, we've seen harsh criticism about PLO flags being waved at events and protests. The criticism is understandable, especially since it isn't a discussion of real issues but rather populist declarations against the entire Arab public.
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Since the state was founded, the Arab sector in Israel has been the only minority in the world without its own flag, because the country to which it belongs it Jewish, and its leaders to everything they can, all the time, to remind them that this is the Jewish state and Arabs can't be part of it, not even those who serve in the IDF. The PLO flag, which Israel banned from being flown in 1967, isn't the flag of the Palestinian state but rather the flag of the "Arab revolution," and was flown in all Arab states – against the Turks, and against the British and French mandates. Every Arab state that has won independence then chose and designed a flag of its own.
Since the Oslo Accords, the flag has been flown everywhere in Israel, even at the most "sacred" sites – the Prime Minister's Office, the Kirya military headquarters, and IDF liaison offices. In the last three decades, all prime ministers have met with Palestinian leaders. The flag itself was flown at their official residence and at the events in which the prime ministers took part, both in Israel and abroad. The claim that it is an enemy flag is incorrect, or at least inaccurate, and if Israel wants to go back 50 years and ban the flag, it will have to revoke its recognition of the PLO as representative of the Palestinian people, thereby cancelling the Oslo Accords and all the agreements that followed.
Is it possible that IDF and Shin Bet security agency commanders coordinate with the Palestinians on security issues in rooms outside of which the PLO flag is on display, but when the flag is raised in the street, it's "identifying with the enemy?"
The Arabs of Israel experience a kind of dual identity. Legislation that kept them away from the symbols of the state led to a process of Palestinization. If the first generation of Arabs after the state was founded was invisible, the second stood up and was seen, and the third is depressed.
When Arab Israeli citizens want to be part of the state, there is objection and fear-mongering about "an end to the Zionist enterprise" and "the end of the Jewish state." Can 2 million Arab citizens be expected to say "yes" to everything? The fourth generation's answer is very clear, and we are seeing an entire generation of educated people who know how to make an argument and stand up for themselves – on domestic Arab issues, as well.
The young generation of Arabs is exposed to a vast quantity of information, and are shaping their identity and opinions not exactly as they were told to in school, but rather according to what they see in the world, mostly on social media. Therefore, the panic about PLO flags is not only unjustified, it is also a natural process taking place among the young generation of Arabs, whose country does not want them to call it theirs.
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