People protesting in support of Palestine are seen carrying ‘watermelon’ pictures and banners on the streets from Gaza to London.
What is the reason behind this. What is the connection of this movement with watermelon? This question must be coming to your mind too.
In fact, watermelon has become a symbol of support for Palestine and opposition to Israel and due to this, Palestine supporters are seen roaming around the world carrying its pictures. The story of a fruit becoming a symbol of protest against Palestine is about 55 years old.
In fact, in 1967, a fierce conflict broke out between Israel and Arab countries. During that time, Israel had also banned the display of Palestinian flags in Gaza and the West Bank.
Not only this, in 1980 the Israeli army also closed a gallery in Ramallah, which was being run by three artists.
These people were accused of showing political things and they were being shown in the colors of the Palestine flag. These colors were- red, green, black and white.
These three people were called by the Israeli army. Slimane Mansour, who runs this gallery, said that the Israeli police officer told him that setting up a gallery or exhibition without the permission of the army is prohibited.
He said that the most important thing is that nothing should be painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag. The artist says that at the same time the Israeli officer pointed towards the watermelon and said that its display is also a violation of army rules.
This is because when the watermelon is cut, its colors also resemble the flag of Palestine.
When the Israeli officer said – You are looking at watermelon, this color is also prohibited
It was said by the Israeli official that the sliced watermelon became a symbol of support for Palestine all over the world. “Wherever I see a sliced watermelon, I begin to understand the tide of people’s emotions,” says Jerusalem-born writer Mahdi Sabbagh. He says that people display this even in Israeli areas and sometimes the Israeli army arrests people who do so.
When taxis have stickers with cut watermelons on them
Mansoor says that even in 1990, there were many demonstrations regarding cut watermelons. Now once again it has become the national symbol of Palestine.
Not only this, a year ago Israel had banned the display of the Palestinian flag in public places. There was a lot of opposition to this.
Then an activist group, Jazim, had stickers with cut watermelons pasted on taxis in Tel Aviv. The caption beneath them read, ‘This is not the flag of Palestine.’ In this way the watermelon has become a symbol of support for Palestine.