By Oula Mahfouz
The kufiya, known in Germany as the “Palestinian scarf”, has become particularly topical in Berlin as a result of the war in Gaza. In October 2023, the education administration in Berlin gave school headmasters the option of banning the wearing of the kufiya at school if it could jeopardise “school peace”. Wearing the kufiya was also banned at some demonstrations against the war. How did the kufiya acquire this political significance and where does it actually come from?
The shapes and patterns of garments change over the centuries and always carry historical, social and religious meanings. All societies develop their own characteristic garments. This also applies to the kufiya. It is a traditional head covering in the Arab world, also known by names such as shemagh and ghutra. It is usually made of cotton or linen and has characteristic colours, with the most popular combinations being white with black or white with red. The square shape of the kufiya is folded into a triangular shape and worn on the head or shoulder. The name “Kufiya” is derived from the city of Kufa in Iraq. The word “shemagh” comes from Sumerian and means headdress; in Akkadian it stands for grandeur and greatness.
The origins of the kufiya date back to ancient Mesopotamia around 3100 BC. The inhabitants used them to protect their heads from the sun. According to legend, Sumerian fishermen wore their fishing nets on their heads, which led to the development of the kufiya. The crossed lines and the net pattern are reminiscent of fishing nets and emphasise the importance of fishing and agriculture. Wavy lines symbolise rivers and bodies of water, symbols of life and survival in desert regions. It is also said that they represent olive leaves and ears of wheat.
Over the centuries, priests and kings wore the kufiya as a symbol of dignity and grandeur. The oldest depiction of a kufiya can be found on a statue of the Sumerian king Gudea from the late third millennium BC, which is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There is also a clay tablet of a dialogue between Ishtar, the great goddess of the Sumerian-Babylonian divine world, and Tammuz, the Babylonian and Assyrian shepherd god, in which she asks him to wear the shemagh to protect himself from the sun.
The kufiya evolved from a symbol of the ruling elite to an essential part of the cultural identity of the general public. Today, it embodies dignity for many people. During the centuries of Ottoman rule in the Arab world, the kufiya became a symbol of social demarcation and resistance to occupation long before the Arab-Israeli conflict began. While wealthy Arabs from the upper and middle classes adopted Ottoman fashion symbols such as the “tarbush” (a headdress made of red felt), people from modest backgrounds favoured the kufiya. Many people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq, regardless of their religion, chose the kufiya to identify themselves as “children of the land” within the Ottoman and British territories in these countries.
In the 20th century, during the British Mandate in Palestine, the kufiya became a powerful symbol of resistance against colonial rule. Palestinian resistance fighters wore them in their actions against the British. Later, all indigenous people in Palestine wore this headgear to make it more difficult for the Mandate authorities to identify and arrest the fighters. After the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent expulsion of thousands of Palestinians, the kufiya became a symbol of resistance against the occupation and the deterioration of living conditions for the local population. It quickly became a symbol of the Palestinians’ commitment to self-determination.
When the Israeli occupation authorities banned the Palestinian flag (1967–1993), the kufiya became an alternative national symbol of the Palestinians. Politicians such as Yasser Arafat wore the kufiya constantly, which strengthened its symbolic effect. World-famous politicians such as Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro also wore it as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians. The kufiya has now become a global symbol that transcends geographical and political borders. It symbolises solidarity with the rights of the Palestinians and the fight against the occupation.
The kufiya is not only a traditional garment, but also a historical and cultural symbol that has embodied different social and national identities over the centuries. It developed from its origins in Mesopotamia into a symbol with cultural and historical significance in Palestine, which is understood beyond Palestine in the Arab world and worldwide.
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Kufiya, Shemagh oder Ghutra sind die traditionellen Namen für das so genannte Palästinensertuch. Foto: tuenews INTERNATIONAL / Oula Mahfouz.
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