You might have seen the watermelon emoji cropping up on social media: The group Jewish Voice for Peace, which has coordinated massive protests calling for a cease-fire because the violence in Gaza intensifies, not too long ago shared an picture of a watermelon on Instagram with a caption asking readers to attend protests, skip work, and name elected officers—every name to motion bulleted with a watermelon emoji. Persons are including watermelon emoji to their Instagram handles or bios, posters are that includes watermelons in images of protests, and a watermelon-themed open letter from former Bernie Sanders staffers urges the senator to name for a cease-fire. Perhaps you’ve seen melon-speckled posts in your feeds.
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The humanitarian disaster in Gaza has heightened consideration on Palestinian protest symbols and phrases—together with the watermelon, a staple of Gazan delicacies that performs an necessary position in Palestinian historical past.
Watermelon is a part of Palestinian delicacies and tradition.
Watermelons have grown within the Center East for hundreds of years. Whereas there’s some disagreement in regards to the fruit’s origins, analysis on its historical past typically exhibits that watermelon is indigenous to Northern Africa, almost certainly Sudan. By means of Hebrew writing, historians have tracked its migration into the Center East, as early as AD 200, the place it was used as a spiritual tithe together with figs, grapes, and pomegranates.
Recipes that includes the fruit are widespread all through Levantine cuisines and cultures. Palestine is not any exception. Variations of watermelon salads are sometimes served as a meze throughout the Mediterranean (in Egyptian, Greek, and Palestinian recipes alike). In her cookbook Levant, Rawia Bishara, the Palestinian American chef behind the restaurant Tanoreen in Brooklyn, features a recipe for a chilly watermelon and Halloumi salad.
A well-liked dish in Southern Gaza referred to as fatet ajer (or qursa, for the bread it’s served with) options unripe watermelon, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes, that are roasted and stewed, then served over flatbreads with olive oil—one other staple in Palestinian meals. “It’s like an enormous, chunky mixture of baba ganoush, a little bit spicy kick, and that watery, form of juicy feeling of that child watermelon,” describes NPR correspondent Daniel Estrin, who tasted the dish on a visit to Gaza.
Within the Sixties, watermelon turned an emblem of protest for Palestinians.
In 1967, throughout the Six-Day Warfare fought between Israel and neighboring international locations together with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, the Israeli authorities banned shows of the Palestinian flag inside its borders to curtail Palestinian and Arab nationalism. The ban lasted till 1993, when the Oslo Accords loosened restrictions on Palestinians within Israel.
