{"id":120077,"date":"2022-05-18T14:45:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T11:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=120077"},"modified":"2022-12-05T12:05:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T10:05:28","slug":"hoi_keffiyeh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/hoi_keffiyeh\/","title":{"rendered":"Jews in Keffiyehs? – The Headdress That Became a Symbol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine for a moment the following scene: a man bearing a moustache and holding a shepherd\u2019s crook stands silently as he stares straight ahead. On his head he wears a keffiyeh<\/em>, a traditional Arabian headdress, while around him a herd of sheep graze quietly. Trees, rocks and clumps of grass dot the tranquil landscape. An idyllic image of a native Canaanite shepherd…<\/p>\n

At this stage, the dream-like atmosphere is abruptly shattered when we notice a large camera positioned across from the man in the keffiyeh<\/em>, and behind it a professional photographer. On closer inspection we see that the sheep, rocks, and blue sky are in fact a painted backdrop. The “shepherd” is actually a European-born Jew answering to the name of Zvi. Setting down his crook and taking off the keffiyeh<\/em>, Zvi leaves the darkened studio and walks out into the sunny streets of early-20th<\/sup>-century Tel Aviv, dressed in his ordinary day-to-day urban clothes. To understand why Zvi would choose to dress-up like a shepherd and what he hoped to achieve by doing so, we must look to the history of the keffiyeh<\/em> – an item of clothing that to this day arouses a whole range of emotions across different groups of people living in this land.<\/p>\n

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Aminadav Altschuler, a leading figure in Jewish land purchases in the Negev, wearing a keffiyeh<\/em> while planting a tree on Tu B\u2019Shvat in the desert near Beit Eshel. This item is part of Israel Archive Network (IAN) and has been made available thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Yad Ben Zvi Archive, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, this traditional headdress is a popular, political, and class symbol, particularly the black-and-white version that has become a definitive Palestinian national symbol. In retrospect, however, at the beginning of the previous century, the situation was different. From the early 20th century until the 1950s, even after the establishment of the state of Israel, senior members of the Zionist movement, as well as many other Jews, were documented wearing the keffiyeh<\/em>. One of the most famous examples is the photograph of the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann wearing an elaborate keffiyeh<\/em> in his meeting with the Hashemite Prince Faisal in 1918.<\/p>\n

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The Emir Faisal (on the right) and Chaim Weizmann (on the left) in keffiyehs,<\/em> in the city of Ma\u2019an in Jordan, 1918<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Alongside Weizmann, members of Zionist military organizations such as the Palmach, HaShomer, and even soldiers in the IDF wrapped themselves in this particular item of clothing. In the first few decades of the 20th century, the Jewish immigrants of the First and Second Aliyah would often have studio portraits of themselves taken while dressed in full Arab costume, complete with a resplendent keffiyeh<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Studio portrait of Rachel Slutzki, among the founders of the cooperative agricultural settlement Nahalal (on the right wearing male garb and holding a rifle) and her cousin Liza Slutzki in a woman\u2019s \u201cBedouin\u201d dress holding a clay jar. This item is part of Israel Archive Network (IAN) and has been made available thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Yad Ben Zvi Archive, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Yitzhak Shmilovsky, a young Jew, wearing a keffiyeh<\/em> and agal<\/em>\u2014the keffiyeh<\/em> is actually a tallit<\/em>, a Jewish prayer shawl, repurposed here as a keffiyeh<\/em>. This item is part of Israel Archive Network (IAN) and has been made available thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Yad Ben Zvi Archive, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The keffiyeh<\/em> was also worn by Jewish schoolchildren and members of youth movements in the Land of Israel. How then, did the keffiyeh<\/em> come to be viewed as an anti-Zionist symbol?<\/p>\n

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Adopting the Keffiyeh as a Means of Integration<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Zionist movement, as a fundamentally European movement, was naturally influenced by many typical, contemporary European intellectual trends, among them Orientalism. With the arrival of waves of immigration to the Land of Israel (then Ottoman controlled Palestine), the European Jewish immigrants found themselves to be very different from the local inhabitants. Many saw the Arab peasants that prevailed in Palestine-Israel at the end of the period of Ottoman rule, as the successors of the ancient Jews who had lived in the Kingdom of Israel before the exile. The Jewish community of Peki\u2019in that had been living in the Land of Israel for centuries also served as a model for an indigenous, \u201cauthentic\u201d way of life. Embracing this view, many of the new immigrants sought to imitate the lifestyle of the locals. The visual culture produced in the Land of Israel during the early days of the Zionist movement demonstrates the attempt to fashion the \u201cNew Jew\u201d in the Land of Israel.<\/p>\n

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Schoolchildren at Ein Ganim, dressed in white and wearing keffiyehs<\/em>. The school building is visible in the background. This item is part of Israel Archive Network (IAN) and has been made available thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Yad Ben Zvi Archive, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the National Library of Israel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Abraham Soskin\u2019s photography studio in Tel Aviv, one of the first Jewish-owned photography studios in the country, is a good example of this. Among the services that Soskin offered his customers was a portrait photograph displaying them in full local peasant or Bedouin dress. Soskin\u2019s photos capture the Zionist movement\u2019s zeitgeist at the beginning of the 20th century, which sought to transform the diaspora Jew into a \u201cNew Jew,\u201d while appropriating an ancient national identity they perceived as the authentic Jewish identity. These images show how Westerners viewed and tried to emulate the locals. This perception persisted into the Third Aliyah, with Zionist Jews seeking to become like the indigenous inhabitants and imitating them in many ways.<\/p>\n

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Yitzhak Hoz, a member of the Hashomer organization, pictured in a studio portrait by Abraham Soskin. Nadav Mann, Bitmuna. From the Ada Tamir Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another notable example is the dress adopted by members of the Hashomer organization, most of whom were Ashkenazi Jews, but who wore keffiyehs<\/em> and abayas<\/em> in an attempt to resemble the country\u2019s Bedouin residents.<\/p>\n

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Members of the Hashomer organization, two of whom are wearing keffiyehs<\/em>, while others are wearing the Turkish kalpak<\/em> and fez<\/em>. Nadav Mann, Bitmuna. From the Ben-Zion Israeli Collection. Collection source: Aharon Israeli, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is important to distinguish between European-colonial orientalism, exemplified by Europeans photographing themselves dressed in indigenous attire out of a sense of paternalism and cultural appropriation, and the early Zionist immigrants who adopted local dress and wore the keffiyeh<\/em> out of the desire for closeness and a sense of belonging to the place. The latter aspired to shape their image in the spirit of the ancient, historical Jews, whose legacy they believed they were continuing. This sentiment is also visible in the artwork produced by the early 20th<\/sup>-century Jewish artists who studied at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts, who imagined the \u201cNew Jew\u201d through an orientalist lens.<\/p>\n

The pioneers, members of agricultural settlements, youth movements, and even military organizations such as the Haganah, Palmach, Irgun, and Lehi, also tried to promote their perception of the figure of the New Jew. Along with the return to the Land of Israel and the return to working the land, the keffiyeh<\/em> was a clear visual expression of this. The familiar item of clothing, which was customary in the Arabian Peninsula even before the advent of Islam, was meant to protect the head and face from sand and dust, to shield those laboring in the fields from the summer sun and the winter winds. The keffiyeh<\/em> has three familiar, traditional styles: the white keffiyeh<\/em> is popular today in the Gulf States and among the Bedouin, but is also found in the region of Iraq; the red-and-white keffiyeh<\/em>, which is very common in Jordan, but can also be found in other places; and the black-and-white keffiyeh<\/em>, which is today identified with the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

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Israeli soldiers in a Jordanian jeep with a framed photograph of Jordan’s King Hussein in a keffiyeh<\/em> on the front fender, in Jerusalem after the conquest of the city in 1967. The Meitar Collection, Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the Zionist enterprise developed, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict grew, the Zionist Jews\u2019 attempt to imitate the locals waned. In his book Pre-Israeli Orientalism<\/em>: A Photographic Portrait<\/em>, which reviews the phenomenon of studio photography in peasant and Bedouin clothes among Jews in the Land of Israel, Dor Guez points to the violent events of 1929 as a turning point in the Jewish attitude and the end of their desire to emulate the locals: “The na\u00efve Orientalist perception of the first aliyot<\/em> was shattered . . . and with it their passion to \u2018Easternize\u2019 themselves as the indigenous people.\u201d Towards the end of the 1930s and the eruption of the \u201cArab Revolt,\u201d when the Palestinian national consciousness was also largely shaped, the keffiyeh<\/em> became a national-Palestinian symbol, replacing the Ottoman fez<\/em> hat or tarboosh<\/em>. The keffiyeh<\/em>\u2019s identification as a political symbol began to enter local consciousness, as did a process at the end of which the keffiyeh<\/em> became a symbol holding an ideology completely opposite to Zionism.<\/p>\n

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The Political Nuances of the Keffiyeh <\/strong><\/p>\n

After the events of 1929 and the Arab uprising, the popularity of the keffiyeh<\/em> began to decline and Jewish attempts to emulate the locals became less common, but throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the keffiyeh<\/em> could still spotted in Israel, including around the necks of Jewish Israeli politicians and military personnel. One well-known image shows David Ben-Gurion during a patrol in the midst of the 1948 war, wearing a white keffiyeh<\/em> around his neck, alongside young officers Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Alon.<\/p>\n

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Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, with a keffiyeh<\/em> tied around his neck, during a tour in the Negev with a group of officers including Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Alon. May, 1949. Photo: Government Press Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another famous photograph from that war, known as \u201cThe Girl with the Gun,\u201d shows communications officer Ziva Arbel leaning against a tree, with a holster and gun around her waist and a keffiyeh<\/em> tied like a kerchief on her head, shortly after the battle of Barfiliya.<\/p>\n

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“The Girl with the Gun”, wearing a keffiyeh<\/em>; Ziva Arbel, communications officer in the Yiftah Brigade’s 3rd<\/sup> battalion, in Ben Shemen Forest after the capture of the village of Barfiliya. July, 1948. Photo: Boris Carmi, the Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These two photos, along with many others, show how in the late 1940s the keffiyeh<\/em> was still a strong symbol of the Zionist ethos, despite its significance in Palestinian political identity that had begun a decade earlier. Boris Carmi, known as Israel’s \u201cfirst military photographer,\u201d documented IDF soldiers wearing keffiyehs<\/em> in 1958.<\/p>\n

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Keffiyehs<\/em> and \u201cTembel<\/em>\u201d hats: 1958 IDF military parade, soldiers in keffiyehs<\/em> at a tent encampment, 1958. The Meitar Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shift in consciousness that led to the Jews\u2019 near complete abandonment of the keffiyeh<\/em> only began towards the end of the 1960s. Behind this change was the key figure of Yasser Arafat.<\/p>\n

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Yasser Arafat on a visit to Gaza, wearing the keffiyeh<\/em> that became one of his signature features. July, 1994. The Dan Hadani Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 1967 war and the great defeat of the Arab states led to the rise of the Fatah movement headed by Arafat, who presented himself as a leader who spoke on behalf of the Palestinian people. One of the most prominent features of his appearance besides his perennial \u201cbattle dress\u201d and gun was the black and white keffiyeh<\/em>. He began wearing it as early as 1956 when he first traveled to Europe as a member of the Palestinian student delegation from Egypt. From then on, he made sure to be seen wearing it, and thus, it became one of the Palestinian leader\u2019s most identifiable signs. Arafat was even nicknamed abu al hata<\/em>: (\u201chata<\/em>\u201d being the local Arabic word for keffiyeh<\/em>). In his biography of Arafat, author Danny Rubinstein describes how the Fatah leader made sure to drape the keffiyeh<\/em> in a particular way that gave it a pointed edge, supposedly creating the outline of the Holy Land. Arafat\u2019s appearance strengthened the keffiyeh<\/em>\u2019s political status, and already in the first intifada, Palestinians were seen wearing it in their confrontations with the Israeli security forces.<\/p>\n

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Supporters of Arafat in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The keffiyeh<\/em>\u2019s symbolism is clear. July, 1994. The Dan Hadani Collection, the Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1990s, the status of the keffiyeh<\/em> as an \u201canti-Zionist\u201d symbol finally solidified, when a picture of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin wearing a keffiyeh<\/u><\/em> was published by far-right activists, as a way to demonstrate his supposed \u201cbetrayal\u201d in signing the Oslo Accords. \u00a0Since then, caricatures and images of various politicians in keffiyehs<\/em> have been circulated to illustrate similar messages.<\/p>\n

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A poster criticizing former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, edited to show him wearing a keffiyeh<\/em>. The Hebrew text reads: “The Liar \u2013 Elections Now!”<\/em>, the Poster Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The Keffiyeh in the 21st Century<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 20th century ended with the polarization of the keffiyeh<\/em>, so that at the beginning of the 21st century, public opinion in the country regarding this headdress had completely shifted from what it had been a century earlier. The keffiyeh<\/em> had played a role during the various attempts to begin the peace process over the years. Apart from the Oslo Accords and the familiar image of Arafat alongside Rabin in a keffiyeh<\/em>, an incident at the 1991 Madrid conference also sparked controversy, when the Palestinian representative Saeb Erekat wore a keffiyeh<\/em> around his neck, thus angering those present, particularly the Israeli delegation. In less than 50 years, the Israeli attitude towards the head covering had completed a 180 degree turn – though Ben-Gurion had willingly wrapped himself in a keffiyeh<\/em> back in 1948, by the 1990s, it was considered a threatening and unwelcome sign.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the Abraham Accords signed in 2020 have led to a kind of \u201cIsraeli renaissance\u201d regarding the keffiyeh<\/em>. \u00a0Israeli tourists visiting the Gulf countries and Morocco have been photographed happily wearing the head covering in its white, Gulf States version as part of the local tourist experience. Once the Palestinian-political context is out of the picture, it seems that Israeli Jews are ready to return to wearing the familiar Arab headdress.<\/p>\n

Over the years, there have also been attempts to create a \u201cJewish kaffiyeh<\/em>,\u201d somewhat reminiscent of the \u201csudra<\/em>,\u201d the Jewish head covering that was once common in Arab countries. At the same time, the Palestinians have continued to ensure the keffiyeh<\/em> remains their representative symbol, including through popular culture, music, television, the internet, and social media. Singer Muhammad Assaf even won the popular singing contest \u201cArab Idol\u201d in 2013, with his song \u201cWave the Keffiyeh<\/em>,\u201d whose words glorify the headdress as a Palestinian national symbol.<\/p>\n