[U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton (centre) looking on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) shakes hands with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (in Keffiyeh) after the signing of the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Rule, September 1993. (Image: William J. Clinton Presidential Library/NARA)]
Washington/Dubai: The demand for the chequered Keffiyeh has seen unprecedented surge – both in sales and online search, ever since the Zionist Regime in Israel began its military offensive in Gaza and Occupied West Bank following Hamas’ Operation Al Aqsa Flood on Oct 7, 2023.
As many as 16,200 Palestinians - including over 6,600 children and some 3,500 women, have been killed in the last 60 days of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza and occupied Palestinian territories described by world leaders, scholars, activists and academicians as a “textbook case of genocide”.
The Israeli massacre and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians have sparked worldwide protest rallies where participants – majority of them young, are seen sporting the Palestinian Keffiyeh to show their solidarity.
Not protest rallies alone, the youngsters wearing Keffiyeh are also seen in trains, metros and buses across the United States to Germany and South Africa, and from Japan to Korea and Ireland to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and express their anger against the Zionist regime in Israel.
“It was like a light switch. All of a sudden, we had hundreds of people on the website simultaneously and buying whatever they could,” news agency Reuters quoted Azar Aghayev, the US distributor for Hirbawi, as saying.
Hirbawi was opened in 1961 and is the only manufacturer of Keffiyehs left in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“In two days, the stock that we had was just gone, and not just gone, it was oversold”, Azar said.
The Keffiyeh – black and white or red and white, chequered head scarf is part of the daily clothing in the Middle East. It however became the symbol of the Palestinian Resistance during the Arab Revolt from 1936 to 39 and later received worldwide prominence after former Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Yasser Arafat, a Nobel Laureate who also became President of the Palestinian Authority, made it his signature headdress.
According to Reuters, online searches for “Palestinian scarf for women” rose by 159 percent in the three months to December 4 compared with the previous three months whereas searches for “military scarf shemagh,” “keffiyeh palestine” and “keffiyeh” rose 333 percent, 75 percent, and 68 percent, respectively.
Besides the United States of America and other parts of the world, the Palestinian Keffiyeh is also witnessing huge demand in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“We have seen a sharp rise in the sales of Keffiyeh and products in that print,” Khaleej Times quoted Abdul Haleem, a salesperson at a local store in Deira, as saying.
“It was always in demand. But now people are buying it to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause,” he added.
Many stores across the Deira Market have stocked these scarves, and the traders said that people from many neighbouring and African countries are buying them wholesale to resell back home.
“It is a powerful display of solidarity,” said Ashif, another vendor in Deira market.
The Palestinian Keffiyeh is registering record sales even as those wearing it are being targeted at some places, including in the United States. In the most serious incident, three college students of Palestinian descent – two wearing Keffiyehs – were shot in Burlington, Vermont, on November 25, 2023 while taking a walk.
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