Craft and making

The keffiyeh

A folded black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh
Photo: MohmmadRjab (CC0)

The scarf carries its own iconography: the fishnet for the fisherman’s trade, the olive leaf for the groves, the bold comb of lines for strength. It was village headwear first, then the mark of the 1936 revolt, then, after Arafat wore it everywhere, the world’s shorthand for Palestine.

The Hirbawi mill in Hebron is the last keffiyeh factory in Palestine. It is still weaving.

Sources

Back to the culture archive