Watermelon at Center Stage of Pro-Palestinian Protests

Over the past three months, on banners and T-shirts and balloons and social media posts, one piece of imagery has emerged around the world in protests against the Israel-Hamas war: the watermelon. The colors of sliced watermelon—with red pulp, green-white rind, and black seeds—are the same as those on the Palestinian flag. From New York and Tel Aviv to Dubai and Belgrade, the fruit has become a symbol of solidarity, drawing together activists who don't speak the same language or belong to the same culture but share a common cause, per the AP. The internet is already teeming with pictorial signs—pixelated images, emoji, and other typographical codes—that signal political dissent. The watermelon emoji is just the latest example. Here's how the watermelon went from being a symbol of protest in the West Bank and Gaza to a global sign of solidarity with Palestinians online:

• Historical context: After the 1967 Mideast war, the Israeli government cracked down on displays of the Palestinian flag in Gaza and the West Bank. In 1980 in Ramallah, the military shut down a gallery run by three artists because they showed political art and works in the colors of the Palestinian flag—red, green, black, and white. According to artist and exhibit organizer Sliman Mansour, an Israeli officer told him, "It is forbidden to paint in the colors of the Palestinian flag." The officer mentioned a watermelon as one example of art that would violate the army's rules, Mansour said. In protest, people began to wave the fruit in public.
• Seed imagery: Another reason the watermelon might resonate: It has seeds. There's a saying, often attributed to the Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, that's popular among activists: "They wanted to bury us; they didn't know we were seeds." "You might be able to smash a watermelon. You might be able to destroy a fruit, but the seed is a little harder to crush," says artist Shawn Escarciga, who created the watermelon design for a coalition made up of Jewish Voice for Peace and AIDS activism group ACT UP.

• Emoji as censorship buster: Watermelons have long been a staple of food in the region. Now, young activists are increasingly adopting the watermelon emoji in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Emojis may confuse algorithms that advocates say tech companies deploy to suppress posts with keywords like "Gaza" and even "Palestinian." "With the watermelon [emoji], I think this is actually really the first time where I've seen it widely used as a stand-in. And that to me marks a notable uptick in censorship of Palestinian content," says Jillian York, head of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Escarciga adds: "Having this image that transcends language, that transcends culture, that transcends algorithms, can really reach people."
• Other symbols: Watermelons aren't the only symbol to catch on with activists. Other signs of global Palestinian solidarity include keys, spoons, olives, doves, poppies, and the keffiyeh scarf.

More here. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)