#🍉🫒

[section-69]

can I ask about the 🍉🫒 tag? I can see where the olives came from but what is the significance of the watermelon?

It's grown across Palestine, and is the colours of the Palestinian flag - I don't know offhand when it started, but for decades it's been used in art when the flag itself has been banned. Here's an Al Jazeera article discussing it

[fearofmusic1979]

every day when the genocide in Palestine breaks my heart all over again, I think about this friend I had in high school, a really lovely person, who went on birthright and became an egregious israel apologist. legit had zero beliefs before like the ones she came back with, and she was ready to defend those beliefs to the death. I had another friend who went to israel once too and didn't come back like this. when I think about the endemic ignorance not just in those super overtly hateful people somewhere out there in the world or the internet, but in all those we know and are used to coexisting around or even liking, I always go back to the mental image of this girl in the IDF hoodie she used to wear around school because "it was soft." we literally had Palestinian friends. I never talked to her again after high school and these israel beliefs she had were literally the only reason. she's pretty offline so there's no way to really know what she's up to or how she stands on things now but for some reason I've been wondering about it lately. I wrote this text at first to post on my instagram story but too many people I know know her irl so it feels a little too shady to post there.

[woodsfae]

This is my email to POTUS and VPOTUS today

Hi Genocide Joe (/VP Harris) Have you even looked at the people you're complicit in their genocide and ethnic cleansing? Have you seen pictures of the surviving palestinian journalists, getting thinner and more haggard by the day? Today I am surprised they can even stand. It has been weeks since palestinians had access to more than a mouthful or two of water a day. God will judge you. Harshly.

Feel free to use this for your own White House emails today. Going to wait till after business hours to call my senator and representative so I can leave a voicemail guaranteed.

[maybeamultiverse]

[rhodoforwinter]

Here is some art made by my friends supporting the A15 (April 15th) plan for a free Palestine!!

The first is by @tourmaline-v4x !!

Go to A15Action.com for more information! 🇵🇸🍉

[praxis-newsletter]

Reblog and share

And look up the BDS Movement for boycott list

[pineappleciders]

there will be a global strike on March 2nd for Palestine. be loud, march, protest, whatever you can do. the people have so much more power than you might think. the IDF is planning an attack on Rafah on march 9th.

visit shutitdown4palestine for information about it, and to find protests and gatherings near you. do not stay silent, every word counts. and please research protest safety.

daily click at arab.org

[ichthyologies]

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🫒🍉🕊️

notes:

the palestinian sunbird was declared the national bird of palestine in 2015 as a way to preserve palestinian identity when israel attempted to rename the bird, and has since been a symbol of palestinian culture

olives are an important source of income for palestine, and also serves as a symbol of peace, prosperity, and palestinian's connection to their land

the colors of the watermelon match that of the flag of palestine, and has been used to represent the country in resistance to israel's attempted censorship of palestine

links for palestine 🇵🇸

daily click : arab.org

donate e-sims: gazaesims.com

palestinian children’s relief: pcrf.net

donate to care for gaza: gofundme.com/f/careforgaza

menstrual hygiene funds: piousprojects.org/campaign/2712

[kaleidoscopekai]

Over 27,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7th. The United States is complicit in a genocide, and anyone who is okay with this is a horrible person. Free Palestine.

Please remember to keep calling, emailing, faxing, and mailing your representatives and Biden. Being an annoying citizen helps more than a polite one. Resist bot and 5Calls app are both very helpful in stream lining this process.

Boycotting is working, please keep doing it even if you are tired.

If you are in a place to donate one of the best things to do is still donate esims as most aid is not reaching Gaza yet.

Keep talking about it. Keep reposting to your stories, talk to your families and friends about it.

Don’t look away.

[oh-look-a-homosexual-punk-bitch]

I just saw the tank photo……WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE, THEY ONLY RECOGNIZABLE THING WAS HIS ARM, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ISR*EL, WHY DO PEOPLE STILL SUPPORT THEM, WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?!??

[fracktastic]

iDK why, but I felt like showing this off

I almost never like the stuff I draw/ paint, but I screwed around with some acrylic paint pens on my sketchbook cover and I actually really *like* how it came out. It's not, objectively, my best work, but today, it makes me happy.

[xtruss]

Symbols of Forever Palestine 🇵🇸!

What the Keffiyeh, the Olive Branch, Handala and the Watermelon Represents in Terms of Palestinian Odentity and Resistance.

— By Mohammed Haddad, Konstantinos Antonopoulos and Marium Ali | Published: 20 November 2023

In hundreds of cities worldwide, demonstrators have rallied in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, donning the emblematic black-and-white Palestinian headdress known as the keffiyeh.

Among them, demonstrators carry large keys, a cartoon portraying a child with their back turned, and even an image of a Watermelon 🍉, each representing a different way of supporting the Palestinian cause.

In this infographic series, Al Jazeera showcases eight symbols that represent Palestinian identity and resistance to Israeli occupation.

A keffiyeh, also spelled kuffiya, is a square-shaped cotton headdress with a distinctive chequered pattern worn in many parts of the Arab world.

The black-and-white variant, worn by Palestinian men and women, has come to symbolise the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, justice and freedom.

The Olive-Leaves Pattern represents perseverance, strength and resilience.

The Gishnet Pattern represents Palestinian fishers and the people's connection to the Mediterranean.

The Bold Pattern represents trade routes with neighbouring merchants of Palestine.

The garment, originally used to protect individuals across the Middle East against the sun, gained popularity during the Arab Revolt against British colonial rule in the 1930s.

The keffiyeh was also the personal trademark of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader. He would wear it folded in a triangle shape and draped over his shoulders, covering his head.

Today, the keffiyeh has been adopted globally by individuals, activists and organisations to support the Palestinian cause.

The olive tree has deep historical and cultural roots in Palestine, and its branches have been associated with peace and prosperity for centuries.

The hardy trees can handle drought, subzero temperatures, frost and even fire. They are symbolic of Palestinian resilience against Israeli occupation and their connection to the land.

Olive cultivation plays a crucial role in the Palestinian economy through olive oil, table olives and soap production.

About 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinian families rely on the olive harvest for their income, which takes place every year between October and November. Traditionally, the harvest season is a time of festivities and joy, but tight Israeli restrictions and settler attacks overshadow it.

According to the UN, more than 5,000 olive trees belonging to Palestinians in the West Bank were damaged in the first five months of 2023.

In 1974, Yasser Arafat, then the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), famously said in a speech addressed to the United Nations General Assembly:

“Today I come bearing an olive branch in one hand and the freedom fighter's gun in the other. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat, do not let the olive branch fall from my hand”.

In 1948, Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands in what became known as the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic). Those people took their keys with them, sure they would return.

Many Palestinians still hold onto the keys to their original homes as a symbol of their hope and determination to return one day. These keys have been passed down several generations and are kept as a symbol of Palestinians’ right to return - a principle enshrined in international law that grants individuals the right go back to their homes of origin.

During Israel's latest offensive in Gaza, at least 1.5 million Palestinians have been driven out of their homes, double the number of those displaced during Nakba in 1948. For Palestinians, Nakba is not a discrete historical event. It is an ongoing process of displacement that has never stopped.

The outline map of historic Palestine represents the geographical area associated with the region before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The map serves as a visual representation of Palestinian claims to their land and self-determination.

In 1948, Zionist military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and captured 78 percent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 percent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

There are 7 million registered Palestinian refugees living in camps located throughout Palestine and neighbouring countries. The plight of Palestinian refugees is the longest unresolved refugee problem in the world.

Necklaces shaped like the Palestinian map are crafted and worn, often featuring intricate details of the map's borders and cities. T-shirts and various items featuring the map of historic Palestine are used as expressions of solidarity with Palestine.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is located in Jerusalem, the contested capital at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The 14-hectares (35-acres) compound contains the al-Qibli Mosque (grey dome) and the Dome of the Rock (golden dome) and holds profound religious, cultural and political significance for Palestinians.

Muslims believe that it is from Al-Aqsa where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven during the Night Journey (Isra' and Mi'raj). As such, it's considered one of the holiest sites in Islam after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.

The compound is known to Muslims as al-Haram ash-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount.

The site is a recurrent flashpoint, with Israeli forces repeatedly conducting raids, closures and limitations on Muslim worshippers at the site.

Handala is a cartoon character created by Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali that reflects his own childhood refugee experience and the ongoing plight of Palestinians displaced by the Nakba.

The first version of the cartoon appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper in 1969 and was drawn facing the viewer. However, in 1973 following the October War, al-Ali started drawing Handala with his back turned to reflect how the world had itself turned its back on the Palestinians.

Handala is barefoot and wears ragged clothes like the refugee camp children al-Ali remembers when he was forced to leave his village as a 10-year-old boy.

Handala is named after the “handhal”, a bitter fruit that grows in the dry areas of Palestine. It grows back when cut and has deep roots.

In 1987, Naji al-Ali was assassinated in London. No one has been charged with his murder.

The watermelon is perhaps the most iconic fruit to represent Palestine. Grown from Jenin to Gaza, the fruit shares the same colours as the Palestinian flag – red, green, white and black – so it is used to protest against Israel’s suppression of Palestinian flags and identity.

Following the 1967 war, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem, the government banned the Palestinian flag in the occupied territory.

Although the flag has not always been banned by law, the watermelon caught on as a symbol of resistance. It appears in art, shirts, graffiti, posters and the ubiquitous watermelon emoji on social media.

In January 2023, the police were instructed to confiscate Palestinian flags from public places. This was followed in June by a bill to ban the flag in state-funded institutions.

In response, Zazim, a grassroots Arab-Israeli peace organisation, placed the Palestinian flag – in watermelon form – on about a dozen Tel Aviv service taxis.

In the current conflict, people have been using the watermelon emoji as a way to avoid getting “shadowbanned” on social media when posting about current events in Gaza.

[bobmckenzie]

danny ramble because i'm in my feelings!! 😵‍💫

thinking about Danny being the overlooked child growing up bc his older brother was the popular sports star who brought home trophies and had games to go to and was charismatic, popular, etc while Danny was a little awkward and his interests were more solitary. to top it off, at school he was never "nerdy" enough to fit in with the AV club kids but never "cool" enough to fit in with the kids in his mechanics class. sure he had people he'd make small talk with and somewhere to sit at lunch, but he never really made friends, never was able to be known as more than Kevin's younger brother until Becky was born and he started connecting with other parents in Urbania. For most of his life he felt basically invisible.

Now he's a staple of the community, everyone knows the man who runs the gas station, who makes small talk in check-out lines and always leaves great tips at the diner. but STILL he's never really had a best friend, never had someone to share deep secrets and fears with...

and then I show up out of the blue, some random hitchhiker who on the surface he has nothing in common with. there's almost twenty years between us, I know nothing about cars, or football, I'm so shy compared to him, and I have no clue what it's like to be a parent. but something just... clicks. we make each other laugh, we like the same music, movies, like listening to each other ramble about mechanics or books... and for some reason the things that don't make sense to tell anyone else, make sense to tell each other, whether we mean to say them or not.

it's more than the attraction, though there's that too. beneath the butterflies and the flushed faces, the hearts that race when hands brush passing a lug wrench to tune up Becky's go kart or a spoon to stir dinner with, the compliments that we try so hard to make sound casual... it's all so easy. because beneath it, we're each other's best friend.

[tumbler-polls]

So I have a gender-related question to y'all. It's something I've been wondering of as of late.

Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

Use 🍇/🍈/🍉 and so on, if you'd like to share your answer in the tags.

[pineappleciders]

shamrock shake season is here, here's how to make them at home. tastes better, cheaper, and doesn't fund ruthless slaughter!

shamrock shake recipe

daily click at arab.org