It’s been a while since I looked at Jewish versions of the keffiyeh, which always drive Palestinians and their fans crazy. Because, of course, the keffiyeh symbolizes “resistance” and if you are not a supporter of blowing up Jews, you do not deserve to wear it. (“Did these fashionista hipsters sport the Keffiyeh when the intifadah popped off to show support?”)
To add insult to injury, an early manufacturer of an Israeli-style keffiyeh now makes keffiyeh tallitot – Jewish prayer shawls. (And keffiyeh tzitzit, as well.)
I haven’t seen any complaints about that yet, but perhaps the haters haven’t heard about it.
Last February, Mondoweiss became very indignant about an Israeli designer who used keffiyeh patterns to make sexy clothing (“eroticizes the Palestinian keffiyeh.”)
The red dress is not based on the Palestinian keffiyeh pattern at all, but the Jordanian one. Not that Philip Weiss would know the difference:
I can’t imagine Dodo Bar Or is considering the sentiments of 20 percent of the Israeli population, let alone the millions under occupation a few miles away. Many are sure to be offended by these clothes.
No, Phil wanted to manufacture some outrage on behalf of the eternally outraged. The shop has been selling these patterns in Tel Aviv for 18 months and I haven’t seen any protests from Israeli Arabs, much as Weiss wants them to.
There was also no outrage about “cultural appropriation” when an Arab non-Palestinian created a bulletproof keffiyeh in Lebanon:
Perhaps the most iconic of Arab clothing items, the keffiyeh now takes on a sinister new symbolism in bulletproof form.
Beirut-based architect Salim al-Kadi fashioned the “K29 Keffiyeh” – featured during this summer’s Beirut Design Week – from Kevlar, a synthetic material used in bulletproof vests. According to Dezeen Magazine, al-Kadi smuggled the material into Lebanon, where a woman living in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp then hand-wove it into the headscarf’s traditional fishnet pattern.
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