Sunday evening, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon took the floor to comment on the results of the first round of the legislative elections, LFI European deputy Rima Hassan appeared in the background, wearing a keffiyeh around her neck.
The wearing of the traditional Palestinian headscarf, which has been a strong symbol of the Palestinian cause for decades, has made a comeback since the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the massacres of October 7. Seeing it worn by Rima Hassan quickly sparked reactions from the right and the far right. Yaël Braun-Pivet, former president of the National Assembly and member of the presidential party, sees it in particular as “a provocation”. On the left, LFI MEP Manon Aubry “does not believe that it is a crime to wear a keffiyeh” on BFM TV. Rima Hassan herself responded on X, since then.
The return of the keffiyeh since the pro-Palestinian student demonstrations
At the end of April, this same two-tone scarf was worn by dozens of Sciences Po Paris students demonstrating their support for Palestine during American-style sit-ins in the halls of their campus. Before them, American students wore it to defend the Palestinian people, during large-scale sit-ins organized for several weeks in front of Columbia and MIT universities, among others.
Several demonstrations have turned into encampments where the police have ended up intervening, such as at Sciences Po Paris on April 25. During these demonstrations of student support, the keffiyeh has once again become a powerful image, that of a traditional Arab garment, originally worn to protect the face and mark the identity of nomadic Bedouins and farmers from various regions of the Middle East several centuries ago.
Originally, a practical piece of clothing that became a sign of class struggle
While its origins are not always easy to trace but are attested to in the 19th century, the keffiyeh first emerged as a masculine headdress that helped “distinguish nomadic or Bedouin communities from villagers and city dwellers,” Wafa Ghnaim, curator at the Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington, D.C., tells Vox. In addition to informing about social status, it protects against bad weather, dust storms, and the sun.
The year 1936 marked a first turning point in its use, which became political. For four years, the Palestinians rose up against the British occupation and wore the keffiyeh as a uniform to demand their independence. Its color took on a meaning: it had to be black and white, regardless of the social class of the person wearing it. In neighboring Jordan, it was red and white, Le Monde recalls. As for the green and white keffiyeh, it would later become the symbol of Hamas.
In the 1960s, the black and white version was worn again by Yasser Arafat when he founded Fatah, his Palestinian liberation movement. He cemented the keffiyeh’s popularity as a symbol of Palestinian activists by going to the UN wearing the two-tone scarf in 1974. The few Westerners who wore it at the time, such as Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, did so to show their support for the Palestinian people.
At the beginning of the 1990s, clothing still took on a political and practical aspect – it “attenuates the impact of tear gas” explains Le Monde – for demonstrators who defied the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. Although it is sometimes negatively associated with terrorism since its wearing by Yasser Arafat, the keffiyeh then attracts more and more international attention, which will then see other qualities in it.
The 2000s, the immersion of the keffiyeh in the world of fashion
At the dawn of the 21st century, it was designers who took over the Palestinian headscarf, to the point that it was worn in Western high school classes or that Carrie Bradshaw used the motif in an episode of Sex & the City. The keffiyeh became a real fashion accessory, exhibited by Balenciaga or Isabel Marant, or around the necks of many stars, recalls the Guardian.
But criticism grew against this cultural appropriation and several brands ended up removing the garment from their stores. This was the case for Urban Outfitters in 2007, whose multi-colored keffiyehs, initially presented as “anti-war scarves,” were ultimately removed due to the “sensitive nature of the product,” recalls the New York Times. In 2021, Louis Vuitton was the subject of accusations on social media after marketing a “keffiyeh stole” in the colors of Israel for $705.
The real keffiyeh… now out of stock
Its fleeting intervention in the fashion world, from the 2000s, led to an overproduction of the keffiyeh, particularly in China. To the point that today, there is only one traditional weaving factory of this scarf left in Palestine, that of the Hirbawi family, in Hebron, since 1961.
“After the second Intifada [en 2000]the influx of mass-produced Kufiyas has significantly undermined the market for authentic locally made Kufiyas. It has become increasingly difficult to compete with the low prices of imported knockoffs, even though our Kufiyas are of much higher quality and have deep cultural significance” – Nael Alqassis, CEO of Hirbawi, the Guardian in 2023.
A problem which risks intensifying with the outbreak of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent months, which have brought the keffiyeh back to the forefront of the political scene. The surge in purchases has already had harmful consequences.
Since the end of 2023, several shopping sites have been flagged for carrying false advertisements for “real Palestinian keffiyehs” on Facebook. Jacques Neno, one of the few French sellers who import scarves from the Palestinian company Hirbawi, explains that he is “out of stock”. “Supply is made complicated by the war and demand which has exploded, explains the merchant from Villeurbanne (Rhône) to l’Express. Made in China (…) is cheaper and easier to find.”
