The hand of fate

PALESTINE: Yasser Arafat turned the keffiyeh into a symbol of Palestinian resistance. It was worn not only by politicians, militants and their supporters, but also by fashionistas around the world. Now, the last factory making the headscarves in the Palestinian territories is fighting for its life as cheap Chinese imports flood the market.

Once, Hirbawi Textiles employed as many as 40 people — 15 men in the factory and up 25 women who finished the scarves at home. Together, the employees supported 300 people and produced hundreds of keffiyehs daily. “We were working 17 or 18 hours a day, supplying the local market. It’s very intensive work,” Yasser Hirbawi told The Guardian. The 50-year-old family firm now has just one employee besides Hirbawi and his two sons.

“The people who are importing this garbage from China are killing the local product"

The Chinese products sell at less than two-thirds the price of the Palestinian scarves. “The people who are importing this garbage from China are killing the local product,” says the 76-year-old. He adds that the Chinese manufacturers use polyester and poor-quality cotton in their keffiyehs. This is in contrast to a Hirbawi keffiyeh, which is produced with high-quality material and — just as importantly, Yasser Hirbawi says — a sense of history.

The family firm’s fortunes changed following the signing of the Oslo accords in the 1990s, after which the newly formed Palestinian Authority (PA) opened its markets to imports. Five years later, Hirbawi closed the firm because business was so bad. However, the family started it again in 2000, because, as one of the sons, Jouda, says: “This is the only thing we know how to do.” Their main source of income now is visitors from abroad.

The Hirbawis are bitter that the PA refuses to protect what it describes as a “national product”. The family finds it hard to accept that the item they have been producing for almost half a century is so popular all over the globe — yet their business is failing. "Everyone all over the world is benefiting from this symbol — except us," says Hirbawi.