Sales of the Palestinian keffiyeh have surged unprecedentedly since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October, even as security forces forcibly removed keffiyehs during some protests and wearers reported verbal and physical abuse. An increasing number of Americans are wearing the keffiyeh to call for a ceasefire and an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza or to signal their support for the Palestinians. Azar Agayev, the American distributor for the Harbawi keffiyeh factory, said, "Suddenly, we had hundreds on the website simultaneously purchasing everything they could buy." Agayev added, "Within two days, our stock ran out, not only did it sell out, but it sold for above its official price (due to high demand)." The Harbawi factory opened in 1961 and is the only remaining factory in the occupied West Bank that produces the keffiyeh. The Harbawi keffiyeh, patented for its brand, is sold worldwide through its websites in the United States, Germany, and Amazon. Agayev noted that "all forty versions available on the American website, which include many vibrant colors in addition to the traditional black and white, have sold out." Data from Jungle Scout, an e-commerce analytics platform, indicated that keffiyeh sales increased by 75 percent in 56 days between October 7 and December 2 on Amazon compared to the preceding 56 days. Searches for "Palestinian scarf for women" increased by 159 percent in the three months leading up to December 4 compared to the previous three months. Additionally, searches for "military scarf" surged by 333 percent, "Keffiyeh Palestine" by 75 percent, and "Keffiyeh" by 68 percent. The keffiyeh is prevalent throughout the Arab world and dates back to 3100 BC. Initially, it became a symbol of Palestinian resistance during the Arab Revolt against British rule in 1936 and later became the signature attire of Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat.
While Harbawi is the most famous factory, there are others including smaller artisans and global knockoffs. The luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton sold its version of the keffiyeh in 2021. Americans who support either Palestinians or Israel have faced threats and attacks since the conflict began in the Middle East, with American Jews experiencing a rise in anti-Semitism and American Muslims facing an increase in Islamophobia. Qasemi Barhamda (38 years old), a former United Nations official living in Virginia, recently worn a Palestinian scarf while protesting outside the White House and in Georgetown, Washington, in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. She said wearing the scarf gives her "immense power," reconnecting her with her Palestinian heritage and providing a symbolic link to children in Gaza. However, it also exposes her to verbal abuse, stating, "I take a calculated risk."
**Security Incidents and Gunfire in Vermont**
During the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City in November, a security officer forcibly removed the keffiyeh from one participant wearing it, a moment captured in a photo for Reuters. Photographer Eduardo Munoz reported that a security officer approached demonstrators at the front of the crowd, who were holding a banner and a Palestinian flag, and seized all three items, forcibly taking the keffiyeh from around the protester's neck. The Council on American-Islamic Relations documented several cases of individuals being targeted for wearing the keffiyeh, from a father attacked in a park in Brooklyn to a graduate student at Harvard being told she was wearing a "terrorist scarf."
In the most serious incident, three college students of Palestinian descent, two of whom were wearing the keffiyeh, were shot in Burlington, Vermont, while walking last month. Hisham Awartani (20 years old) suffered paralysis from the chest down. Authorities have charged a suspect with attempted murder in the shooting and are investigating whether it was a hate crime. Tamara Al-Tamimi, the mother of one of the students, Kinan Abdul-Hameed, told CBS News last week that she believes they would not have been targeted if they were not wearing their traditional attire "and speaking Arabic."
Students for Justice in Palestine, an activist organization for Palestinian college students in the United States, has encouraged students to wear their keffiyehs since the Hamas attack on Israel in solidarity with those shot in Vermont in the week following the attack. However, Anna Rajagopal, a member of the group, said in Houston, Texas, that she and other members do not wear the keffiyeh outside places they consider supportive of Arabs and Muslims since October, after individuals waving Israeli flags surrounded a café they were in and began shouting slurs. Rajagopal (23 years old), a freelance writer who graduated from Rice University in May, and a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace organization, which advocates for Palestinian independence, stated, "My friend and I would take off our keffiyehs after leaving (Palestinian and Arab-supportive) places to remain safe." Nevertheless, sellers of the Palestinian keffiyeh say the demand continues unabated. Marjan Totah, founder of a company in Ramallah selling Palestinian handmade products online, stated that if they had been able to stock 20,000 keffiyehs, they would have sold them all.
