# Palestinian Resistance Poster

> The poster culture of the Palestinian national movement after 1965, issued by the PLO and its factions from Beirut and other Arab capitals for refugee camps, homes and solidarity audiences abroad. Every faction drew on one shared iconography (keffiyeh, olive tree, key of return, map, Dome of the Rock, fida'i, embroidered dress) in the flag's red, green, black and white, with hand-lettered Arabic slogans, rendered as painterly realism or stark flat graphics.

- Period: 1965–1993
- Where: Middle East & North Africa
- Origin: PLO art department and Unified Information office, with Fatah, PFLP and DFLP media offices, mainly in Beirut, plus Damascus, Amman and the West Bank
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: PLO poster art, Palestinian revolutionary poster, Palestinian nationalist poster
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/palestinian-resistance-poster/

## Use it with care

Many motifs here are culturally owned and still carry living meaning. Tatreez embroidery patterns belong to particular villages and regions and to a women's craft tradition; the keffiyeh and the key of return stand for dispossession and the right of return; the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa are sacred to Muslims; martyr posters show real people who were killed. Do not lift these as decorative 'resistance' styling: commission Palestinian designers, calligraphers and embroiderers, have every Arabic line read by a fluent reader, and credit the archives the images come from.

## How it works

- Build the image from the shared national lexicon: keffiyeh, olive branch, key of return, map, Dome of the Rock, fist, dove and stone.
- Default to the flag's red, green, black and white in flat fields.
- Hand-letter the Arabic slogan as the main text and add a smaller English or French line for international readers.
- Tie each poster to a commemorative date (Karameh, Land Day, a revolution anniversary, a named martyr) and sign it with the faction emblem.
- Choose one register: painterly realism with landscape symbolism, or a stark black carved-line drawing with a single red.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (characteristic)
- [Pictogram](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pictogram/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (characteristic)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (defining)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (occasional)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (defining)
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (defining)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (characteristic)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (occasional)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (occasional)

Avoids: Ironic & self-aware, Playful & witty, Non-representational, Ornament-free, Gloss & highlights, Found & vernacular imagery, Fluorescent & neon

Palette: #ce1126, #007a3d, #141414, #f4efe4, #6b7a3a, #b5833f

Typefaces: Hand-lettered Arabic slogans in Naskh, Thuluth and geometric Kufic-derived forms, Hand-drawn or typeset Latin captions for English and French solidarity lines

Known for: Ismail Shammout, PLO posters from 1965, e.g. Support the Palestinian people to regain their national rights (1975, V&A); Burhan Karkutli, PLO posters of the 1970s; Marc Rudin (Jihad Mansour), nearly 200 posters 1980–91, mainly for the PFLP; Emile Menhem, PLO Unified Information posters; Sliman Mansour, Camel of Hardships (painted 1973, printed as a poster from 1975); Kamal Boullata and Vladimir Tamari; Palestine Poster Project Archives (Dan Walsh)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/socialist-realism.md) (1932–1989)
- Influenced by: [Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster.md) (1960–1990)
- Influenced by: [Hurufiyya Calligraphic Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hurufiyya.md) (1949–present)
- Led to: [Lebanese Civil War Party Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lebanese-civil-war-poster.md) (1975–1990)
- Led to: [Palestinian Watermelon and Keffiyeh Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/palestine-solidarity-graphics.md) (2021–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Iranian Revolutionary & Sacred Defence Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/iranian-revolutionary-poster.md) (1978–1988), 75% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/israeli-state-modernism.md) (1934–1974), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [South African Resistance Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/anti-apartheid-poster.md) (1978–1994), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Giallo Mondadori Covers (I Libri Gialli)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/giallo-mondadori.md) (1929–present), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Roots Reggae Sleeve Art & Rasta Iconography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/roots-reggae-sleeve.md) (1973–1985), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Latin American Feminist Protest Graphics (Ni Una Menos and the Green Wave)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/marea-verde-graphics.md) (2015–present), 66% alike

## Real works

- [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine poster with the Front's emblem](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1718894/): Vladimir Tamari (emblem); published by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, 1969, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- [The Road of the Left Is the Road to Victory: Third Anniversary of the Democratic Popular Front](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1718910/): Muwaffaq Mattar, 1971–72, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- [Karameh – First Anniversary (Dhikra maʿrakat al-Karama)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1023928/): Nazir (Natheer) Nabaa, 1969, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- [Solidarity (Vietnam, Palestine, Rhodesia, South Africa, Latin America)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1718921/): Kamal Boullata, 1969, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

## Sources

- Bahia Shehab & Haytham Nawar, A History of Arab Graphic Design (AUC Press, 2020), ch. 5 'Arab Design and the Palestinian Resistance'
- Palestine Poster Project Archives (palestineposterproject.org); Wikipedia: Palestine Poster Project Archives
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Ismail Shammout poster, museum no. O102776 (collections.vam.ac.uk)
- Yara Khoury Nammour, review of A History of Arab Graphic Design, Eye 102 (2021)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Palestinian Resistance Poster”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/palestinian-resistance-poster/