A rising variety of People are donning the keffiyeh, the distinctive patterned scarf that’s intently linked with Palestinians, to demand a ceasefire to Israel’s assaults on Gaza or to sign their assist for Palestinians.
Gross sales of the scarves have jumped because the Israel-Hamas warfare started in October, US distributors say, at the same time as keffiyehs have been forcibly eliminated by safety forces at some protests and wearers report being focused for verbal and bodily abuse.
“It was like a light switch. All of a sudden, we had hundreds of people on the website simultaneously and buying whatever they could,” stated Azar Aghayev, the US distributor for Hirbawi, which opened in 1961 and is the one producer of keffiyehs left within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.
“In two days, the stock that we had was just gone, and not just gone, it was oversold.”
Hirbawi, which has patented its model, sells scarves internationally by way of its US and German web sites and on Amazon. All 40 variations on the US web site, which embrace many in shiny colors in addition to the normal black and white, are offered out, Aghayev stated.
Unit gross sales of keffiyeh scarves have risen 75 p.c within the 56 days between October 7 and December 2 on Amazon.com in contrast with the earlier 56 days, knowledge from e-commerce analytics agency Jungle Scout confirmed.
Searches for “Palestinian scarf for women” rose by 159 p.c within the three months to December 4 in contrast with the earlier three months; searches for “military scarf shemagh,” “keffiyeh palestine” and “keffiyeh” rose 333 p.c, 75 p.c, and 68 p.c, respectively.
The keffiyeh, with its fishing web sample, is frequent all through the Arab world, with roots courting way back to 3100 BC. It first got here to symbolise Palestinian resistance in the course of the 1936 Arab Revolt in opposition to British rule and later grew to become the signature headgear of Palestine Liberation Group chief Yasser Arafat.
Whereas Hirbawi is the best-known producer, others embrace small artisans and international copycats; luxurious items maker Louis Vuitton offered a model in 2021.
US supporters of the Palestinians and Israel have faced threats and assaults because the Center East battle started, with Jewish People seeing a rise in anti-Semitism and Muslim People an uptick in Islamaphobia.
Hazami Barmada, 38, a former United Nations official who lives in Virginia, wore a keffiyeh not too long ago as she protested exterior the White Home and in Washington’s Georgetown neighbourhood in assist of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Donning the headscarf felt like a “superpower,” she stated, reconnecting her together with her Palestinian heritage and providing a symbolic hyperlink to youngsters in Gaza. However she believes it additionally attracts verbal abuse. “I’m taking a calculated risk,” stated Barmada.
Safety goal, Vermont taking pictures
At New York Metropolis’s Rockefeller Heart Christmas tree lighting in November, one attendee who wore a keffiyeh had it yanked off by a safety guard – a second captured in a Reuters {photograph}.
The safety officer approached protesters on the entrance of the gang who had a banner, a Palestinian flag, and a keffiyeh worn by one demonstrator. The guard grabbed all three objects, taking the keffiyeh from across the neck of the protester, photographer Eduardo Munoz stated.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has documented a number of cases of individuals focused for carrying a keffiyeh, from a father assaulted on a Brooklyn playground to a Harvard College graduate scholar who was instructed she was carrying a “terrorist” scarf.
In essentially the most critical incident, three faculty college students of Palestinian descent – two carrying keffiyehs – were shot in Burlington, Vermont, whereas taking a stroll final month. Hisham Awartani, 20, is paralysed from the chest down. Authorities have charged a suspect with tried homicide within the shootings and are investigating whether or not it was a hate-motivated crime.
Tamara Tamimi, the mom of one of many college students, Kinnan Abdalhamid, instructed CBS Information final week that she believed they’d not have been focused if they’d not been “dressed the way that they were and speaking Arabic.”
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a bunch on the centre of US campus activism since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, has been encouraging college students to “wear your keffiyeh” in solidarity with the scholars shot in Vermont within the week after the incident.
Nonetheless, in Houston, Texas, SJP member Anna Rajagopal stated she and different members had not worn their keffiyeh exterior areas they thought of pleasant to Arabs and Muslims since October, after individuals waving Israeli flags surrounded a restaurant they have been in, screaming insults.
“Myself and a friend have been cognizant of taking off our keffiyehs after leaving Palestinian, Arab spaces to be safe,” stated Rajagopal, 23, a contract author who graduated from Rice College in Could and can be a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, a bunch that advocates for Palestinian independence.
Demand is unabated, although, sellers say. “If we could stock 20,000 keffiyehs, we would have sold them,” stated Morgan Totah, founding father of Handmade Palestine, a bunch primarily based within the Palestinian metropolis of Ramallah that sells native artisans’ wares on-line.
