Battikh – #FreePalestine
”
I wish children didn’t die.
I wish the would be temporarily elevated
to the skies until the war ends.
Then they would return home safe,
and when their parents would ask them,
where were you? They would say,
we were playing in the clouds.
”
Palestinan poet, Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972)
Battikh (The watermelon) – a long-time symbol of Palestinian solidarity and resistance – has reemerged online, at protests and as part of artwork worldwide to support Palestinians as the war in Gaza intensifies.
The use of the watermelon as a Palestinian symbol is not new. It first emerged in 1967, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza and annexed East Jerusalem. Following this, the Israeli government used a military order to make public displays of the Palestinian flag a criminal offence in Gaza and the West Bank. In order to bypass the prohibition, Palestinians started using watermelons since, when sliced open, the fruit displays the patriotic hues of the Palestinian flag — the red watermelon flesh, black seeds, white rind, and green outer skin.
The Arabic word for “watermelon” is “battikh” (بطيخ). In Egyptian Arabic, the word for “watermelon” is also “battikh” (بطيخ), which is the most common term used. However, in colloquial Egyptian slang, people often refer to watermelon as “dom” (دوم), which is derived from the Mediterranean Turkish word “karpuz”
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