Issam Bader

Issam Bader, or Issam Badr (; 1948 – November 2003) was a Palestinian painter, ceramicist, and art educator. He was a co-founder of the Association of Palestinian Artists (رابطة الفنانين التشكيليين الفلسطينيين) and a leading figure in the development of the modern Palestinian visual arts movement in Palestine also, while it was under Israeli occupation. He is also credited with originating the story behind the adoption of the watermelon as a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Early life and education Issam Bader was born in 1948 in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1973, and later earned a master's degree in ceramics from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1982.

He went on to hold numerous solo exhibitions in Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Ramallah, and participated in group exhibitions in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and internationally.

Watermelon symbol

Bader is among the artists most closely associated with the origin of the watermelon as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity and resistance, an anecdote later widely recounted by fellow artist Sliman Mansour. According to multiple accounts, around 1980 an Israeli military officer informed a group of Palestinian artists—including Bader, Mansour, and Nabil Anani—that depicting the Palestinian flag or its colors (red, green, white, and black) in artwork was forbidden. When Bader asked whether a flower painted in those colors would be permitted, the officer reportedly replied that it would be confiscated—"even if you draw a watermelon."

This exchange has been widely cited in Arabic and international media as the origin of the watermelon—whose cross-section displays the same colors as the Palestinian flag—as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance, particularly after Israel's ban on public display of the Palestinian flag following the 1967 occupation.

Death and legacy Bader died in Ramallah in November 2003. He is regarded as one of the pioneering figures of the modern Palestinian visual arts movement that developed during the occupation, and his role in co-founding the Association of Palestinian Artists, as well as his part in the well-known watermelon anecdote, remain frequently cited in discussions of Palestinian art and visual culture.