Heads up!

It’s the new ‘Israeli keffiyeh’

By RUTH EGLASH
29/01/2010 04:09

“People view Jews as Eastern European and forget Arab Jews are also a
massive part of our nation,” says young US Jew.

(My commentary is in blue italics.)

It might be considered by some as a symbol of Palestinian “resistance” or solidarity, but

for a group of young, hip US Jews, wearing a keffiyeh – especially one with blue
embroidered Stars of David – is just as much their right as anyone else’s.

“We did have some negative comments [about the keffiyeh] when we initially sent it out
to our mailing list,” Erez Safar, founder and director of Shemspeed, a Jewish music label
and promotion company that started selling the traditional Arab headdress about two
weeks ago, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

“I think people tend to view Jews as Eastern European and often forget that Arab Jews
are also a massive part of our nation,” continued Safar, a.k.a. DJ/Producer Diwon, whose
family on one side originates from and on the other from Yemen, and pre-state Israel.

“Jews indigenous to the , such as my family, have worn some variation of the kefyah
[cap/kippa] and keffiyeh [head/neck scarves] for thousands of years,” he said.

(Thousands of years? Maybe a piece of cloth, but a kefiyah as is being imitated today?)

“The original purpose of the scarves was to provide protection from the sun and sand.
When it comes to religious observance, the Muslim tradition of head covering originates
from the Jewish tradition,” Safar said.

However, he is not oblivious to the fact that this new “Israeli keffiyeh,” which has been
selling fairly well, has already engendered controversy among some who feel it might be
inappropriate for Jews to use it as a pro-Israel symbol.

“We have had some Arab friends take offense to our new scarf-remix,” acknowledged
Safar. “We have some Muslim rappers who have taken part in our Hip Hop Sulha series,
which is a Jewish and Muslim reconciliation concert series featuring Hip Hop groups
from around the world. We are having a concert in February and one of the performers
has actually backed out because of these scarves.”

In an attempt to put people’s minds at ease, Safar this week released a press statement to
clarify the historical facts and to provide some context.

“As a Jew, I am not offended by the pope who wears a ‘kippa,’ and in the same respect, I
don’t feel there is any reason for anyone to take offense to a Jewish person wearing a
version of the keffiyeh, which they also identify with,” he said in the statement.

“There are numerous variations of the keffiyeh today; the red and white keffiyeh is
associated with and is worn throughout the . It has also been worn by Beduin for
centuries. The black and white keffiyeh, idolized in the 1960s by Egyptian-born PLO
founder Yasser Arafat, has become the symbol of the Palestinian resistance movement,”
Safar said.

“The way that symbols are politicized and used to divide people, rather than as common
ground for discussion and dialogue, is exactly the kind of thought-provoking topic that
we at Shemspeed want to explore with our music, as well as our programming. Our
Israeli remix of the keffiyeh is just one more interpretation of a scarf worn by our
brothers for thousands of years.”
According to Safar, the idea for the Israeli keffiyeh was born out of a trip to taken
by the New York-based design veteran Baruch Chertok from the Jewish clothing
line Dveykus. On his way to , Chertok had a layover in and was struck by the fact
that the keffiyeh-looking scarves were worn on the streets and prominently
displayed in all the stores.

After arriving here, said Safar, “Chertok happened upon a Jewish pro-Palestinian
rally where Jews wearing keffiyehs were demonstrating for Palestinian rights,
and that was all the inspiration it took.”

Safar said that the scarves, which also have “Am Israel Chai” embroidered in
Hebrew into the fabric, were created purely to express a deep love for and “the
unity it creates among Jews.”