How the watermelon went from a racist image to a symbol of the Palestinian cause

Watermelons are very common in the Middle East and an integral part of Palestinian cuisine. But watermelon has also been linked to the Palestinian political cause because of its colors: the rind is green and white, the flesh is red, and the seeds are black—exactly the colors found in the Palestinian flag.

"We weren't allowed to paint in red, green, black, and white," says Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour. "The Palestinian flag was forbidden, and so were the colors of the Palestinian flag," he told the social network Al Jazeera+ in 2021.
Mansour was referring to the 1980s. At that time, an Israeli soldier visited his gallery in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, where several artists were present. "He tried to convince us not to make political art: 'Why don't you paint flowers, beautiful flowers, or an artistic nude? I'd even buy something, you know?'"
The soldier then said they couldn't hold an exhibition in the West Bank or Gaza Strip without first requesting permission from Israeli authorities. "If I paint a flower, but in those colors, what will you do?" someone asked. That painting, too, would be confiscated, the Israeli soldier replied. "Even if you paint a watermelon, it would be difficult."

So the idea for the watermelon actually came unintentionally from an Israeli soldier, says Mansour. In the Palestinian territories, the watermelon quickly became a symbol: you can see it on walls and T-shirts, on posters and in art galleries. "This drawing is from a Palestinian folktale book for children and tells the story of a mythical child who emerges from a watermelon and can speak and act like an adult," Mansour wrote on his Instagram account in October 2023. "It seems to be no longer a myth: the children of Gaza are being forced to be adults, adults who are going through hell."

The History of the Flag

According to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Relations (Passia), the Palestinian flag was designed by Hussein bin Ali, the Emir of Mecca, in 1916.
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