You may have seen around the internet that people show solidarity with the war in Gaza by using filters, or pictures of watermelons. Recently, Jews living in the Netherlands showed solidarity with the Palestinians by combining a traditional hat with the watermelon symbol.
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But why has this fruit become a symbol for Gaza and the Palestinians?
After the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, the Israelis banned the flying and public display of the Palestinian flag. Anyone displaying the flag or its colors could face arrest. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, also ordered the removal of the Palestinian flag from public places. It was the artist Sliman Mansour who came up with the idea of ??using the watermelon to symbolize the flag and its colors.
He recounted an incident to "Morning Edition", saying: "Israeli soldiers came to my gallery and confiscated some of my works, which showed the hardships of the Palestinians. They suggested me to paint flowers and beautiful nudes and told me that they could buy some paintings from me." He added that one of the Israeli officers gave 2 orders to the people in the gallery: "It is forbidden to hold exhibitions without obtaining permission and it is forbidden to create paintings with the color red, black, green and white, as they are the colors of the Palestinian flag."
Mansour's art always presented Palestinian culture. He painted landscapes with olive trees and scenes of Palestinians working in the fields. "This made the Israelis very angry. I don't understand why", said the artist, adding that he was often asked by Israeli officers.
However, despite the constant pressure on his art, the artist has revealed that Israel's constant attacks changed his perspective and his art forever, "I learned a lot and when they took me, they put a bag over my head, handcuffed me and they left 24 hours without water, food, nothing", he said.
While Tamara Taha, a Palestinian-American activist, has stated that the watermelon has long been the symbol of Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Today, on social networks, since the start of the war with Hamas and Israel, people, especially on the Internet, have tried to find a symbol to be associated with Gaza and to raise their voice over the 29,000 victims of airstrikes. People are increasingly using the symbol of the watermelon, the fruit that has the colors of the Palestinian flag.
