Shemspeed.com A promotional image of a scarf in the style of a Palestinian keffiyeh with Jewish symbols.RE: An ‘Israeli Remix’ of a Palestinian Scarf
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/a-new-israeli-remix-of-a-palestinian-scarf/?ref=middleeast
Dear Editor,
My immediate reaction to the headline "An ‘Israeli Remix’ of a Palestinian Scarf" is anger and frustration. I am torn between growing rage and deepening sorrow for all that has already been taken from the persecuted and oppressed Palestinians, the natives of the land.... but I pushed myself to remain calm, to read as impartially and compassionately as possible, to think as clearly and as honestly as I can- and then to dare think outside the box:
Old photos of Palestinian life before 1948 reveal many secular Palestinian Arabs- beautiful women and children in fashionable clothes.
There are also many enchanting pastoral photos and prints of Palestinians in an ancient storied land wearing traditional everyday ethnic outfits. Shepherds and farmers and barefoot children who gently blend into the landscape of their ancestors. Plus there are the more formal hand made thob dresses with various Palestinian villages and cities having different cross stitched color schemes and embroidery patterns for each woman's dress.
In sharp contrast, today many news photos show more and more mass produced, big black garments that totally obscure faces and forms. Seems obvious to me that modern Islamist religious extremism completely enveloping and erasing individual expression and connection is doing much more to usurp and destroy Palestinian identity and potential then an Israeli remix of a Palestinian scarf.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Growing Gardens for Palestine
Shepherd outside Jerusalem
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS: Arab women grinding coffee in Palestine. Original caption: “The native mode of grinding coffee, Palestine” — Library of Congress Published as a stereoscope in September 29, 1905 by Meadville, Pa. : Keystone View Company
YAHOO PHOTOS In this picture taken Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, a Palestinian woman takes a class in Islam at the Salafi charity in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip. They look like Afghan warriors, preach global jihad and are too radical even for Hamas. They're becoming an increasing headache for the Palestinian Islamic militant group ruling Gaza. Jihadi Salafis, followers of a violent strain of ultra-conservative Islam, have organized into small, shadowy armed groups that have clashed with Hamas forces and fired rockets at Israel in defiance of Hamas' informal truce. Perhaps even more worrisome for Hamas, Salafis also claim a growing appeal among Gazans in the territory's pressure cooker of isolation and poverty, raising fears they could serve as a bridgehead for their ideological twin, al-Qaida. (AP Photo/ Eyad Baba)
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