(21 Jul 2025)
WEST BANK PALESTINIAN KEFFIYEH FACTORY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 4:19
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hebron, West Bank – 10 July 2025
1. Various of workers and loom machines producing keffiyeh at Hirbawi textile factory
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Hirbawi, Hirbawi factory co-owner:
"The keffiyeh is an integral part of Palestinian heritage. We are proud that our family legacy is the ownership of the only keffiyeh factory in Palestine. The keffiyeh is not only a symbol. It is also considered the second flag of Palestine, and a symbol of Palestine at home and abroad.”
3. Various of workers and loom machines producing keffiyeh at Hirbawi textile factory
4. Various of black-and-white checkered scarf
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Hirbawi, Hirbawi factory co-owner:
"Over the past three years, our business has improved significantly. Demand for our products has increased. Our brand has become more well known. And branding outside Palestine has improved a lot."
6. Various of worker sewing a keffiyeh while listening to Muslim prayers
7. Various of women folding and packaging keffiyehs
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Hirbawi, Hirbawi factory co-owner:
"The factory was severely affected by imports from China. At one point, it closed for about five years. Business was suffering. What has changed now is that we have a brand. People no longer buy a keffiyeh just because they want it, but because it’s made in Palestine, made in the only factory in Palestine."
9. Various of machines working
10. Various of workers managing threads
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Hirbawi, Hirbawi factory co-owner:
"We feel pride and joy to see that the products we produce in our factory are spreading all over the world,. When we see people abroad wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, wearing the Hirbawi keffiyeh, we see the impact that our factory has on the world. We don’t just produce and export goods, we also make products that spread Palestinian culture, spread Palestinian heritage and make people more familiar with Palestine."
12. A man wearing a keffiyeh walking around Hebron’s old city
13. Hebron’s Old City
14. Various of men chatting in front of a café
15. Various of keffiyehs for sale in Hebron’s old city
STORYLINE:
The Hirbawi textile factory in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, has been producing the keffiyeh, a scarf held dear by Palestinians for over six decades.
A surge in foreign sales in recent years has led to a revival of the last Palestinian keffiyeh factory in the Palestinian territories, after it had struggled financially.
"People no longer buy a keffiyeh just because they want it, but because it’s made in Palestine, made in the only factory in Palestine," said Mohammed Hirbawi, the son of one of the factory owners.
Traditionally, the scarf was worn by farmers over their heads or shoulders, but it has become a potent symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for rights under Israeli occupation.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, demonstrators around the world have been seen using the keffiyeh to express their support for the Palestinians living in Gaza.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to be alive.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 58,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Some of the looms were imported from Japan and are very old.
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