What does the watermelon symbol drawn on posters of pro-Palestinian protesters at American universities mean | World

While students take over universities in the United States and some parts of Europe in pro-Palestinian protests, It is possible to see drawings and reproductions of watermelons on posters, t-shirts and posts on social media. In some cases, activists even take their own fruit to protests. The use, however, is not new. But what do they represent?

The protests spreading across universities are against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip — which began after the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the region, invaded and attacked Israeli territory; At the time, around 1,200 people died. In response, Israel launched an offensive that left around 34,000 people dead in Gaza, according to Hamas. The two sides discuss a ceasefire.

The watermelon became a symbol of Palestinian strength and resistance in 1967, after the Six Day War between Arabs and Israelis. At that moment, Israel took control of Gaza from the West Bank, and the public display of the Palestinian flag was prohibited in these places, with the risk of arrest for anyone who did not obey the rule.

To get around the ban, Palestinians began using watermelon, already widely consumed in the region, as a form of protest. The fruit, when cut, has the same colors as the national flag: red, black, white and green.

See why watermelon became a symbol of Palestinian resistance

Even the use of the flag’s colors became a target of repression. In 1980, in the city of Ramallah, the military closed a gallery run by three artists because it exhibited works in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, the artist and organizer of the exhibition, Sliman Mansour, reported that he was summoned by an official to give explanations. The soldier told him that it was forbidden to organize an exhibition without authorization from the military, as well as “painting with the colors of the Palestinian flag”. The officer mentioned the watermelon itself as an example of art that would violate army rules.

In protest, people began to go out in public with the fruit. There are reports of young people who defied repression and walked the streets with slices of watermelon, risking being arrested by soldiers. The fruit, for some, represents the “unbreakable spirit of the Palestinian people.”

The ban was only lifted by Israel in 1993, as part of the Oslo Accords, the first formal agreements to try to resolve the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine. The flag was accepted to represent the Palestinian Authority, which would administer Gaza and the West Bank.

The fruit, however, had already become a great symbol of resistance. Following the agreement, people from the Gaza Strip were arrested for carrying sliced ​​watermelons as crowds marched waving the flag, which has since been banned, without police repression.

Another reason watermelon may have spread as an image of resistance lies in its seeds. There is a saying, often attributed to the Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, that is popular among protesters: “They wanted to bury us; They didn’t know we were seeds.”

Nowadays, the use of the fruit on banners, t-shirts and emojis on the internet has become a symbol of solidaritya form of gathering of activists who do not speak the same language, nor belong to the same culture, but share the same cause.

In 2007, shortly after the Second Intifada, Palestinian artist Khaled Hourani drew a slice of watermelon for a book titled “Subjective Atlas of Palestine.” In 2013, he isolated an engraving and named it “The Colors of the Palestinian Flag”, which became popular among activists around the world.

In January last year, Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, provoked fervent opposition by banning Palestinian flags in public places.

In response, activists launched a campaign to protest the arrests and confiscation of flags. The group plastered Tel Aviv taxis with large watermelon stickers that read: “This is not a Palestinian flag.”

In a written statement, the organization said: “Our message to the government is clear. We will always find a way around any absurd ban and we will not stop fighting for freedom of expression and democracy.”

Young people have increasingly adopted the watermelon emoji when calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on social media. In addition to representations of the fruit, the use of the watermelon emoji has become very popular.

Although it may seem like just a virtual fad, the goal is to confuse the algorithms. Advocates say tech companies are suppressing posts with keywords like “Gaza” and even “Palestine.”

Nonprofits that study digital rights in the Middle East say they have detected blatant bias on the platforms.

In one of the reports, people began to notice that if the Instagram bio said “Palestinian” in English next to the Palestinian flag emoji and “Praise God” in Arabic, the application translated the text to “Terrorist”.

The company Meta released a public apology.