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One of the co-founders behind the well-known frozen dessert company Ben and Jerry's has claimed how corporate owner the multinational conglomerate blocked the launch for a new pro-Palestinian ice cream flavor.

Ben Cohen, who co-founded the business alongside his partner, announced that he plans to independently develop this new product as part of a personal series highlighting issues the company has been barred from speaking out about.

Longstanding Dispute Between Creators versus Parent Company

This latest development intensifies the ongoing tension among the world-famous ice cream maker with Unilever, the UK-based consumer goods corporation that has owned the ice cream brand since 2000.

Both founders have claimed that the parent company along with its ice cream arm Magnum improperly prevented their company from "fulfilling its ethical commitments".

The Fruit Sorbet as a Symbol for Support

The entrepreneur revealed via an Instagram video how he is creating a new watermelon-based frozen dessert, asking for public suggestions for the product's name and potential ingredients.

“I'm doing what they couldn't,” the founder commented in a cooking set. “I'm making a watermelon-flavored ice cream that calls for lasting ceasefire in Palestine and calls for addressing the harm that was done there.”

The watermelon has emerged as an emblem for support for the Palestinian people because of its colors, that match the colors in Palestine's national banner – red, green, black and white.

Previous Social Engagement plus Current Developments

Several years ago, the ice cream company refused to sell their merchandise in areas under Israeli control, resulting in Unilever transferring the Israeli operation to an Israeli distributor, thereby permitting continued sales within disputed territories.

The new dessert series is being created through Mr. Cohen's personal brand, the socially conscious dessert company that originally established several years back to support former US presidential candidate Senator Sanders with the product "Bernie's Return".

Management Changes plus Future Plans

Mr. Cohen indicated how he will create other ice cream flavors focusing on concerns that Ben & Jerry's was silenced from speaking about openly by corporate restrictions.

The announcement follows partner Jerry Greenfield stepped down from the company recently, after decades of involvement, mentioning worries that the company's autonomy was undermined after corporate moves to restrict their advocacy work.

Previously, Ben Cohen commented that “My partner has strong compassion and the ongoing dispute with our parent company was deeply distressing him."

"My heart leads me to continue to work inside the company to fight for its independence so that the company can fulfill its ethical purpose, the principles that it was founded on and has maintained for decades," he told media outlets.

• Corporate owner limitations on political advocacy
• Personal flavor creation by company founders
• Watermelon flavor serving as social statement
• Continuing tensions among parent company and social mission