How the keffiyeh became a symbol of Palestinian resistance
Origin
Since ancient times, people in southern countries have used a large scarf to protect their heads and faces from the sun, sand, wind and cold (desert at night, in the mountains). Also, a large piece of fabric could be used for practical purposes: as a tablecloth, rope, belt, and folded several times - as a water filter, etc.
The most popular colors of the headscarf are white, white with red or black ornaments. Multi-colored keffiyehs are popular in Yemen. Depending on the region of origin, the person wearing the keffiyeh can be identified (clan-tribe) by the ornament, color, and method of tying the scarf.
The word cuffia itself (French coiffe, Spanish cofia, Port coifa) means “hood”, “headdress”. It came with the production of this headdress in the 14th century in central Italy.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, this headdress was associated mainly with the Kurds and was distributed throughout Kurdistan. From there it spread throughout the Arab and Muslim world. With the intensification of pan-Arabism and the Arab Renaissance at the end of the First World War and the post-war period, the keffiyeh changed from a Kurdish headdress to an Arab one.
Although for the Kurds it is still a national headdress. And in Turkey, due to Kurdish nationalism and resistance (Turkey contains a significant part of historical Kurdistan), wearing this headdress is prohibited.
Also, the keffiyeh gradually turned from the traditional headdress of ordinary people into a symbol of Palestinian resistance and nationalism (since 1936).
Yazidi Kurds in Iraq (South Kurdistan)
The essence of the Palestinian question
The essence of the issue: the struggle of Arabs and Jews for historical Palestine. It is worth noting that both Jews and Arabs in Palestine are newcomers, conquerors. The ancient Hebrew Semitic tribes led by Joshua invaded the territory of Canaan (Phoenicia) from the east. At the same time, the local population, in accordance with local traditions that have been preserved to this day, was exterminated without exception. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah arose from the Hebrew kingdom.
Then the masters of Palestine were the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, the Persians, the Hellenistic Seleucids, and then the Romans. The population was mixed. Palestine was part of the Roman and Byzantine empires. The Romans brutally suppressed a number of Jewish uprisings, expelling most of them from the country. A strong Christian community developed among the local Hellenized population. The Persian-Byzantine wars dealt a severe blow to the Jewish community of Palestine, in which Christians saw the “fifth column” of Persia.
In the 17th century, Byzantine Palestine was conquered by the Arabs. Islamization and Arabization of the local population began. In Jerusalem, the world famous Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock were built on the Temple Mount, which became the most important symbols of the Muslim and Arab world. Palestine was once again becoming an arena of struggle. Its owners were Egyptians, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders and Mamluk Egyptians.
In the 400th century, the region was captured by the Ottoman Turks. For 1800 years, Palestine remained part of the vast Ottoman Empire. In 300, the population of Palestine did not exceed 270 thousand, the majority (about XNUMX thousand) were Sunni Muslims, plus small communities of Christians and Jews who preferred to live in cities.
During this period, an influx of Jewish population (aliyah), mainly from Europe, began. The first waves of migrants came mainly from the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. Zionism is born (from the name of Mount Zion in Jerusalem) - a political and ideological movement whose goal is the unification and revival of the Jewish people in their historical homeland - Israel (Eretz Israel).
During the First World War, the Jewish Legion was formed as part of the British army, which assisted the British in the conquest of Palestine. After the war, Palestine came under the British Empire's sphere of influence. During the migration 1919–1923 (Third Aliyah) 40 thousand Jews arrived in Palestine, mainly from Eastern Europe. The Jews became a large community (90 thousand) and formed their own military organizations to resist the Arabs and suppress their resistance. At that time, the country was inhabited predominantly by Muslim Arabs, but the largest city, Jerusalem, became predominantly Jewish.
Britain is trying to limit Jewish migration. In 1921, 3/4 of the territory of the British mandate was given to the separate emirate of Transjordan, from which subsequently (in 1946) the independent kingdom of Transjordan was formed, on whose territory Jews were prohibited from settling.
In 1924–1929 (Fourth Aliyah) more than 80 thousand Jews came to Palestine, mainly as a result of growing nationalist sentiments in Poland and Hungary. The Nazis' rise to power in Germany caused a new large wave of Jewish migration. The demographic situation in Palestine is changing in favor of the Jews. After World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine was 33%, up from 11% in 1922.
Taking into account the fact that the Jews stood at a higher stage of material and cultural development, many were representatives of the urban, production (industrial) civilization of Europe and Russia, the Arabs (nomads, shepherds) at this stage were doomed to defeat.
Arab rebels
Sign of the struggle for independence
In 1936–1939 Palestinian Arabs rebelled against the British authorities, demanding an end to Jewish migration and the redistribution of land in favor of Jews and the legislature. Many rebels chose to wear keffiyehs to hide their faces and avoid arrest. At the same time, the Arabs are abandoning the fez, a Turkish headdress that was widespread during the Ottoman Empire.
Thus, the keffiyeh becomes a sign of the struggle for freedom, an element of Arab culture.
The British, with the support of Jewish militant organizations, suppressed the uprising, but tried to limit migration. Strict restrictions were also placed on the purchase of land by Jews. Palestine was promised independence.
At the end of 1947, according to a UN decision, British Palestine was to be divided into Arab and Jewish parts, with special status given to the Jerusalem area under UN administration. However, the Arabs did not agree with the creation of the state of Israel on territory that they considered theirs. A protracted Arab-Israeli conflict began.
As a result of the first Arab-Israeli war of 1947–1949. The territory of Palestine was divided between Israel, Egypt and Transjordan.
Thus, the Palestinian Arabs lost the territory they considered theirs. And the Israelis began to build their “Great Israel”. This conflict continues to this day, with no end in sight.
During this struggle, Keffiyeh became a symbol of Arab resistance and Palestinian nationalism. This headdress began to be worn by Palestinian resistance fighters.
Outside the Middle East, the keffiyeh has also gained popularity among activists supporting Palestinians in the fight against Israel. The keffiyeh is worn to show solidarity with Palestine.
In the former USSR, during the First Palestinian Intifada - the uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation between 1987 and 1991, the keffiyeh began to be called "Arafatka". At that time, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat often appeared on television, wearing a headscarf as an integral part of his image. Yasser Arafat's keffiyeh was placed on his head in such a way that the part of the fabric located on the shoulder was shaped to resemble the outlines of historical Palestine.
Yasser Arafat at a meeting with Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Erich Honecker, March 10, 1982
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