An Apple a day could get you expelled from the Square”
The story of forbidden fruit as old as humans, Adam and Eve had eaten all sorts of fruits in heaven, grapes, citrons, figs, pomegranates, and olives. However, the apple was the forbidden one, although the apple wasn’t mentioned in the Torah, Bible, and Quran. According to The Quran, fruits are gifts from God and a natural staple food for humans. The Apple wasn’t the issue; Adam was expelled from heaven for disobeying god’s order, not to eat from the tree. Even after repentance and asking for forgiveness, Adam was expelled from heaven anyway, disobeying a divine order is not something you sniff at. Now in our modern time, in our secular heaven, where fruits become forbidden, and can get you expelled from the promised land.
Palestinians use watermelon, a symbol of resistance after the Apartheid state of Israel prohibits displaying the Palestinian flag in public or even the colors Green, Red, Black and white in galleries. Although the origin of associating watermelon with resistance and the Palestinian flag is not clear, NPR reported that the idea of the watermelon’s connection with the Palestinian flag came when an Israeli soldier who was trying to censor Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour from displaying Green, Black, Red and white colors in his gallery in the 1980s . “They recommended that we do the beautiful flowers and beautiful nude figures, and he said that he would buy it from us,” Mansour said. The Israeli officer’s order was clear: “I’m not allowed to paint in red, green, black and white. These are the colors of the Palestinian flag.” … what would happen if we drew a flower with Red, Green, Black, and White? the artist asked. ” Even if you paint a watermelon, we will confiscate it.” the Israeli interrogator said. Watermelon slowly became the symbol of Palestinian resistance inside galleries and outside, now you can see Israeli soldiers and tanks chasing and arresting young Palestinians who are waving a piece of watermelon, with colors that resemble the Palestinian flag, Red, White, Black, and Green, (in America with seedless watermelon; no black) then watermelon became a symbol of the forbidden fruit and it could cause you to get kicked out from the promised land. Although police arrest people around the world protesting the Israeli onslaught in Gaza holding signs of watermelon, you don’t see a sell-out Artist like Salman Rushdie who protested the right of depicting the prophet as a terrorist by French satiric Magazine, saying that ‘I Stand With Charlie Hebdo, as We All Must’” after the so-called fatwa, Writers all over the western world gather around watercoolers, and bonfires reading his boring books. The sellout artist has no words, standing with Palestinian artists for sanctioning their right to freedom of expression. In May, I was invited to speak at the annual Nakba Commemoration in Northfield, I met a young art student from Carleton, she was holding a sign she made of a young starving Palestinian child holding a watermelon. Food is used to starve Millions of Palestinians in Gaza, not just denied forbidden fruit, but forbidden food and water, altogether. Forbidden fruit is not just used a symbol of resistance, in the promised land. In England, The British police have arrested Palestine protesters for holding satirical placards depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as Coconut, brown from the outside and white from the inside. Some think it’s racist but in the spirit of freedom of expression, Coconuts, the new Forbidden Fruits reflect the sellout politicians, descendants of slaves are serving the descendants of their masters, brown or black from the outside and white from the inside. In 1919 revolution in Egypt, a host of protests against the British occupation, led by el Wafd party under the leadership of Egyptian lawyer and politician Saad Zaghloul, the country was in turmoil and ended up sending Mr. Zaghloul to an exile in Malta, which resulted in more protests, lots of arrests and killing took place, Egyptians were prohibited from chanting of their beloved leader’s name, Saad Zaghlool, which his last name Zaghloul (Balah) means a type of dates in Arabic, Egyptians protested the British Occupation by chanting their leader name, Zaghloul holding dates and branches of palm trees. In Egypt now, after General el-Sisi’s military coup, that toppled the first and only civilian president elected, Egyptians are still protesting the dictatorial military general by calling elSisi, a date (Balaha), a name given to those marginalized people, who do insignificant things, and obey orders, like gophers in offices; sort speake, another forbidden fruit in our modern time. Posting a picture of a date or saying could get you kicked out of modern heaven to elSisi’s prisons, with the rest of almost 100,000 political prisoners inside, one of them, is my 17-year-old nephew who has been imprisoned for over 10 years, his only crime, caught up bringing fresh fruit to the anti-military coup sit-in protests in the square, another forbidden fruit in our modern heaven.
Ahmed Tharwat/ Public Speaker
Producer/Host of the Arab American TV Show BelAhdan
As how with an accent for those without one!!
Minnetonka, MN
Blog at: ahmediatv.com
Working g on his documentary,
The Coptic Grave
ahmediatv@gmail.com
