Keffiyeh - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The keffiyeh/kufiya also known as a ghutrah , , mashadah , shemagh or in Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

chafiye , Kurdish

Kurdish language

Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

cemedanî ( جه مه داني) and Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

puşi, is a traditional Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

headdress fashioned from a square, usually cotton, scarf. It is typically worn by Arab men, as well as some Kurds

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

. It is commonly found in arid regions to provide protection from direct sun exposure, as well to protect the mouth and eyes from blown dust and sand. Its distinctive woven check pattern may have originated in an ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

n representation of either fishing nets or ears of grain.Its prominence increased in the 1960s with the beginning of the Palestinian resistance movement and its adoption by Palestinian politician Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...

. The Keffiyeh has been a fashion accessory in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

since the late 1980s. In the early 2000s, keffiyehs were very popular among adolescents in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, who often wore them with camouflage

Camouflage

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...

clothing.

Varieties and variations

During his sojourn with the Marsh Arabs

Marsh Arabs

The Marsh Arabs , also known as the Maʻdān , are inhabitants of the Tigris-Euphrates marshlands in the south and east of Iraq and along the Iranian border....

of Iraq, Gavin Young

Gavin Young

Gavin David Young was born in Bude, Cornwall, England. His father, Gavin Young, was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Welsh Guards. Daphne, his mother, was the daughter of Sir Charles Leolin Forestier-Walker, Bt, of Monmouthshire. Young spent most of his youth in Cornwall and South Wales...

noted that the local sayyids – "venerated men accepted...as descendants of the Prophet Mohammed" – wore dark blue keffiyeh, in contrast to the black-and-white checker ones typical of the area's inhabitants.

Many Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

keffiyehs are a mix of cotton and wool, which lets them dry quickly and keep the wearer’s head warm. The keffiyeh is usually folded in half, into a triangle, and the fold is worn across the forehead. Often, the keffiyeh is held in place by a rope circlet, called an agal

Agal

The agal , also spelled iqal, egal or igal, is an accessory constructed of cord which is fastened around the Keffiyeh to hold it in place. The agal is usually black in colour....

. Some wearers wrap the keffiyeh into a turban

Turban

In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...

, while others wear it loosely draped around the back and shoulders. Sometimes a taqiyah

Taqiyah (cap)

The taqiyah is a short, rounded cap worn by some observant Muslim men. When worn by itself, the taqiyah can be any color. When worn under the keffiyah scarf, it is always white. Some Muslims wrap the turban around the cap. The turban is called an imama in Arabic...

is worn underneath the keffiyeh, and, in the past, it has also been wrapped around the rim of the fez

Fez (clothing)

The fez , or tarboosh is a felt hat either in the shape of a red truncated cone or in the shape of a short cylinder made of kilim fabric. Both usually have tassels...

. The keffiyeh is almost always of white cotton cloth, but many have a checkered pattern in red or black stitched into them. The plain, white keffiyeh is most popular in the Persian Gulf states

Persian Gulf States

Persian Gulf States can refer to:* Countries in the Middle East bordering the Persian Gulf and sometimes known as the Gulf States: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates....

, almost excluding any other style in Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

and Bahrain

Bahrain

' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

. The keffiyeh is worn by men of all ages, be it on their heads or shoulders (like a scarf).

In Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

The red-and-white keffiyeh is a symbol of Jordan

Jordan

ian heritage, and is strongly associated with Jordan

Jordan

, where it is known as shemagh mhadab. The Jordan

Jordan

ian keffiyeh has decorative cotton or wool tassels on the sides It is believed that the bigger these tassels, the more value it has and the higher a person’s status. It has been used by Bedouins and Village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

rs throughout the centuries and was used as a symbol of honor and tribal identification. The tasseled red and white Jordanian shemagh is much thicker than the red and white shemagh used in the Gulf countries (no tassels).
In Yemen it is used extensively in both red-white and black-white pattern and some traditional Yemeni designs and colours.Multi colored tribal shemagh were used widely before the 1950s. Nowadays these are mostly worn in Yemen and Oman only while in the Gulf and Levant the black/white red/white or pure white styles succeeded. The shemagh is part of an ancient Middle Eastern headgear tradition.

The keffiyeh, especially the all-white version, can also be called a ghutrah, particularly in Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...

(where the skullcap is called keffiyeh), but is also known in some areas as shemagh or :

Ordinary keffiyeh: a piece of white/orange/black cloth made from wool and cotton worn primarily by the Palestinians.
Shemagh: a piece of cloth, usually made of cotton or flax and decorated with many colors but usually by red and white worn primarily by the Jordanians.
Ghutrah: a piece of white cloth made of cotton mild, worn in western Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.

Palestinian national symbol

Traditionally worn by Palestinian farmers, the keffiyeh was worn by Palestinian men of every rank. It became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism during the Arab Revolt of the 1930s. Its prominence increased in the 1960s with the beginning of the Palestinian resistance movement and its adoption by Palestinian politician Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat

.
The keffiyeh would later become a trademark symbol of Arafat, who was rarely seen without a distinctively-arranged black-and-white scarf. (Only occasionally did he wear a military cap or, in colder climates, a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n-style fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

hat called ushanka
Ushanka
An ushanka , also known as a trooper, is a Russian fur cap with ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or tied at the chin to protect the ears, jaw and lower chin from the cold. The thick dense fur also offers some protection against blunt impacts to the head...

). Arafat would wear his keffiyeh in semi-traditional way, around the head and wrapped by an agal

Agal

The agal , also spelled iqal, egal or igal, is an accessory constructed of cord which is fastened around the Keffiyeh to hold it in place. The agal is usually black in colour....

. He also wore a similarly patterned piece of cloth in the neckline of his military fatigues. Early on, he had made it his personal trademark to drape the scarf over his right shoulder only, arranging it in the rough shape of a triangle

Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....

, to resemble the outlines of the territory claimed by Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

. This way of wearing the keffiyeh became a symbol of Arafat as a person and political leader, and it has not been imitated by other Palestinian leaders.

Another Palestinian figure associated with the keffiyeh is Leila Khaled

Leila Khaled

Leila Khaled is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine . She is currently a member of the Palestinian National Council...

, a female member of the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...

. Several photographs of Khaled circulated in the Western newspapers after the hijacking of TWA Flight 840

TWA Flight 840 (1969)

TWA Flight 840 was a Trans World Airlines flight from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, that was hijacked on 29 August 1969...

and the Dawson’s Field hijackings. These photos often included Khaled wearing a keffiyeh in the style of a Muslim woman’s hijab

Hijab

The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....

, wrapped around the head and shoulders. This was unusual, as the keffiyeh is associated with Arab masculinity, and many believe this to be something of a fashion statement by Khaled, denoting her equality with men in the Palestinian armed struggle.

The colors of the stitching in a keffiyeh are also vaguely associated with Palestinians’ political sympathies. Traditional black and white keffiyehs became associated with Fatah

Fatah

Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

. Later, red and white keffiyehs were adopted by Palestinian Marxists, such as the PFLP. Today, Palestinian Marxists have virtually disappeared, and red and white keffiyehs are instead identified with Hamas.

The color symbolism of the scarves is by no means universally accepted by all Palestinians or Arabs. Its importance should not be overstated, as the scarves are used by Palestinians and Arabs of all political affiliations, as well as by those with no particular political sympathies.

Production

Today, this symbol of Palestinian identity is now largely imported from China. With the scarf's growing popularity in the 2000s, Chinese manufacturers entered the market, driving Palestinians out of the business. In 2008, Yasser Herbawi, who for five decades had been the only Palestinian manufacturer of keffiyehs, is now struggling with sales. The Herbawi Textile Factory has 16 machines. In 1990, all 16 machines were functioning, making 750 keffiyahs per day. Today, only 2 machines are used, making a mere 300 keffiyahs per week. Unlike the Chinese manufactured ones, Herbawis uses 100% cotton. Yasser Herbawis son, Izzat, states the importance of creating the Palestinian symbol, in Palestine, “the keffiyah is a tradition of Palestine and it should be made in Palestine. We should be the ones making it.”.

Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...

wrote, "Ironically, global support for Palestinian-statehood-as-fashion-accessory has put yet another nail in the coffin of the Occupied Territories

Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

' beleaguered economy."

Jewish keffiyehs

The tribes of Israel, and their Jewish and Samaritan

Samaritan

The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism...

descendants, have worn variations of the keffiyeh since biblical times. This practice was not unique to the Arabs, as the wearing of headgear is a universal practice among Semitic peoples and a logical protection against the harsh Mid-East sun. From the biblical and rabbinic sources, it can be deduced with certainty that the ancient Israelites wore headgear similar, if not identical, to the keffiyeh (كوفية) still worn by Arab and other Semitic peoples. Variations of the Jewish Keffiyeh (كوفية اليهود), also known as a sudra, were worn by Middle-Eastern Jews from ancient until modern times.

Westerners in keffiyeh

British Colonel T. E. Lawrence

T. E. Lawrence

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18...

(better known as Lawrence of Arabia) was probably the best-known Western wearer of the keffiyeh. He wore a plain white one with agal

Agal

The agal , also spelled iqal, egal or igal, is an accessory constructed of cord which is fastened around the Keffiyeh to hold it in place. The agal is usually black in colour....

during his involvement in the Arab Revolt

Arab Revolt

The Arab Revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.- Background :...

in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. This image of Lawrence was later popularized by the film epic about him, Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...

, in which he was played by Peter O’Toole.

The 1920s “silent-film” era of American cinema saw studios take to Orientalist

Orientalism

Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...

themes of the “exotic” Middle East, possibly due to the view of Arabs as part of the allies of World War I

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

, and keffiyehs became a standard part of the theatrical wardrobe. These films and their male leads typically had Western actors in the role of an Arab, often wearing the keffiyeh with the agal (as with The Sheik
The Sheik (film)
The Sheik is a 1921 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky, directed by George Melford and starring Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, and Adolphe Menjou...

and The Son of the Sheik, starring actor Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...

).

Erwin Rommel

Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....

also commonly wore a keffiyeh around his neck during the Western Desert Campaign

Western Desert Campaign

The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War, was the initial stage of the North African Campaign during the Second World War. The campaign was heavily influenced by the availability of supplies and transport. The ability of the Allied forces, operating from besieged Malta, to...

Symbol of Palestinian solidarity

Outside of the Middle East and North Africa, the keffiyeh first gained popularity among activists supporting the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel.

The wearing of the keffiyeh often comes with criticism from various political factions in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The slang “keffiyeh kinderlach” refers to young left-wing Jews, particularly college students, who sport a keffiyeh around the neck as a political/fashion statement. This term may have first appeared in print in an article by Bradley Burston

Bradley Burston

Bradley Burston is an American-born Israeli journalist, a columnist for Haaretz, and Senior Editor of Haaretz.com, which publishes his blog, "A Special Place in Hell"....

in which he writes of “the suburban-exile kaffiyeh kinderlach of Berkeley, more Palestinian by far than the Palestinians” in their criticism of Israel. While this political use is generally associated with the left wing, European activists have also worn the keffiyeh.

In 2007, the Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

gave a speech in which he criticized Israel harshly, then accepted a kefiyyeh from members of the audience and had his photo taken wearing it.

While Western protesters wear differing styles and shades of keffiyeh, the most prominent is the black-and-white keffiyeh. This is typically worn around the neck like a neckerchief

Neckerchief

A neckerchief, necker or less commonly scarf is a type of neckwear associated with Scouts, cowboys and sailors. It consists of a triangular piece of cloth or a rectangular piece folded into a triangle. The long edge is rolled towards the point, leaving a portion unrolled...

, simply knotted in the front with the fabric allowed to drape over the back. Other popular styles include rectangular-shaped scarves with the basic black-and-white pattern in the body, with the ends knitted in the form of the Palestinian flag

Palestinian flag

The Palestinian flag is based on the Flag of the Arab Revolt, and is used to represent the Palestinian people , and the Palestinian Authority.-Description:...

. Since the Al-Aqsa Intifada, these rectangular scarves have increasingly appeared with a combination of the Palestinian flag and Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...

printed on the ends of the fabric.

Military use

For decades, keffiyeh have been issued to British soldiers who now, almost exclusively, refer to them as shemaghs. Their use by some units and formations of the military and police forces of the former British Empire and subsequent Commonwealth dates back to before the Second World War. Because of its utility it was adopted by the Palestine Police Force

Palestine Police Force

The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police service established in the British Mandate for Palestine on 1 July 1920, when High Commissioner Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from General Allenby's Occupied Enemy Territory Administration...

, the Transjordan Frontier Force

Transjordan Frontier Force

The Transjordan Frontier Force was formed, on 1 April 1926, as a para-military border guard to defend Trans-Jordan's northern and southern borders. The TJFF was also an Imperial Service regiment whose Imperial Service soldiers agreed to serve wherever required and not just within the borders of...

, the Sudan Defence Force

Sudan Defence Force

The Sudan Defence Force was a Sudanese military unit formed in 1925, as its name indicates, to maintain the borders of the Sudan under the British administration...

, the Arab Legion

Arab Legion

The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th century.-Creation:...

, the Libyan Arab Force, the Long Range Desert Group

Long Range Desert Group

The Long Range Desert Group was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commander of the German Afrika Corps, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, admitted that the LRDG "caused us more damage than any other British unit of equal strength".Originally called...

, the Special Air Service

Special Air Service

Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...

and Popski’s Private Army, amongst others, who wore them while operating in North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

. After the war, their use by the Army continued with the shemagh being worn in both desert and temperate environments in theatres such as Dhofar

Dhofar

The Dhofar region lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen. Its mountainous area covers and has a population of 215,960 as of the 2003 census. The largest town in the region is Salalah. Historically, it was the chief source of frankincense in the world. However, its frankincense...

. Australian Army forces have also used the shemagh since the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, and extensively during Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, particularly by Australian Special Forces units. Since the beginning of the War on Terror

War on Terror

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

, these keffiyeh, usually cotton and in military olive drab or khaki

Khaki (color)

The name of the color khaki coined in British India comes from the Hindustani language , meaning "dusty, dust covered or earth colored." It has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms, including camouflage...

with black stitching, have been adopted by US troops as well. Their practicality in an arid environment, as in Iraq

Iraq

, explains their enduring popularity with soldiers. Soldiers often wear the keffiyeh folded in half into a triangle and wrapped around the face, with the halfway point being placed over the mouth and nose, sometimes coupled with goggles, to keep sand out of the face. This is also commonly done by armoured, mechanised and other vehicle-borne troops who use it as a scarf in temperate climates to ward off wind chill caused by being in moving vehicles. British soldiers deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan are now issued with a tan-colored shemagh. Irish Army Rangers

Irish Army Rangers

The Army Ranger Wing is the special forces unit of the Irish Defence Forces.The ARW trains and operates with many international special operations units worldwide, including the US Army Rangers, Delta Force, French GIGN, German GSG 9, Polish GROM, Swedish SSG, Italian COMSUBIN, Australian SAS,...

use a green shemagh to conceal their identity whilst in the "green" role.

Fashion trend

As with other articles of clothing worn in wartime, such as the T-shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

, fatigues

Battledress

Battledress, or fatigues in the general sense, is the type of uniform used as combat uniforms, as opposed to 'display' dress or formal uniform worn at parades and functions. It may be either monochrome or in a camouflage pattern...

and khaki

Khaki

This article is about the fabric. For the color, see Khaki . Kaki, another name for the persimmon, is often misspelled "Khaki".Khaki is a type of fabric or the color of such fabric...

pants, the keffiyeh has been seen as chic among non-Arabs in the West.
Keffiyehs became popular in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in the late 1980s, at the start of the First Intifada

First Intifada

The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....

, when bohemian

Bohemian style

In modern usage, the term "Bohemian" is applied to people who live unconventional, usually artistic, lives. The adherents of the "Bloomsbury Group", which formed around the Stephen sisters, Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf in the early 20th century, are among the best-known examples...

girls wore keffiyehs as scarves

Scarf

A scarf is a piece of fabric worn around the neck, or near the head or around the waist for warmth, cleanliness, fashion or for religious reasons. They can come in a variety of different colours.-History:...

around their necks. In the early 2000s, keffiyehs were very popular among youths in Tokyo

Tokyo

, who often wore them with camouflage

Camouflage

clothing. The trend recurred in the mid-2000s in the United States, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, when the keffiyeh became popular as a fashion accessory

Fashion accessory

Fashion accessories are decorative items that supplement and complement clothes, such as jewelery, gloves, handbags, hats, belts, scarves, wigs, watches, sunglasses, pins, stockings, bow ties, hand fans, leg warmers, leggings, neckties, suspenders, and tights....

, usually worn as a scarf around the neck in hipster

Hipster (contemporary subculture)

Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...

circles. Stores such as Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....

and TopShop

Topshop

Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...

stocked the item. (after some controversy, however, Urban Outfitters pulled the item). In spring 2008, keffiyehs in colors like purple and mauve were given away in issues of fashion magazines in Spain and France.

In mid-2000s New York City, non-Arabs tended to wear keffiyehs in one of three ways. Pro-Palestinian activists wore them loosely draped over their shoulders. World-music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

aficionados wore them as regular, bunched scarves around their necks (as did girls in the 1980s). Finally, hipsters

Hipster (contemporary subculture)

Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...

folded them in half to make a triangle, then gathered the scarf around the neck to leave one point facing down in the center of the chest.

In recent years, new keffiyeh designs with Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i and Jewish motifs have also been sold. Jews indigenous to the Middle East have historically worn their own variations of the Keffiyeh and in pre-state Mandate Palestine

Mandate Palestine

Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...

, both Jews and Arabs dressed in keffiyehs.

Controversial symbol

The keffiyeh has become a symbol of Palestinian nationalism

Palestinian nationalism

Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people. It has roots in Pan-Arabism and other movements rejecting colonialism and calling for national independence. More recently, Palestinian Nationalism is expressed through the Israeli–Palestinian conflict...

, dating back to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. As a result of its symbolic meaning in this context, its display in the West has periodically been the subject of criticism.

In 2007, the American clothing store chain, Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....

, stopped selling keffiyehs after “a pro-Israel activist… complained about the items”, and the store also issued a statement that “the company had not intended ‘to imply any sympathy for or support of terrorists or terrorism’ in selling the keffiyehs and was pulling them”. Caroline Glick

Caroline Glick

Caroline Glick is an American-Israeli journalist for Makor Rishon and is the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. She is also the Senior Fellow for Middle East Affairs of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security Policy.-Life:...

, deputy editor of the Jerusalem Post, equates the Palestinian keffiyeh with the fascist wearing of brown shirts.

External links

“The Keffiyeh and the Arab Heartland” from About.com
“Saudi Aramco World: The dye that binds” by Caroline Stone
Modern Chronology of the Keffiyah Kraze from Arab American blog Kabobfest
A simple trend or a political statement? from NowPublic blog
Che Couture Gives way to Kurds’ Puşi Chic by Işıl Eğrikavuk, Hurriyet
Politics vs Clothing: the Case of the Keffiyeh by Yazeed Kamaldien, Mail & Guardian
Palestinian Keffiyeh outgrows Mideast conflict

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Varieties and variations

Palestinian national symbol

Production

Jewish keffiyehs

Westerners in keffiyeh

Symbol of Palestinian solidarity

Military use

Fashion trend

Controversial symbol

See also

External links