To the Palestinian women, and to all our sisters who embrace us with their Palestinian hearts — beautiful, marvellous, powerful, graceful, and self-determined:
This is our tribute to the brave, resolute, and compassionate women — those who wear and remove their veils whenever and however they wish, over or beneath the fabric — owners of their veils, their hijabs, their keffiehs; owners of themselves!
“A symbol of resistance against the occupation of Palestinian lands, the keffiyeh has become the garment of activists in solidarity with our people all over the world.
For the Palestinian people, the keffiyeh represents the beginning and the end. Everything and nothing.
It is the open manifesto of those who refuse the infamous peace of the graves.”
InshAllah, we shall overcome!
Amyra El Khalili
Movement: Women for Peace in Palestine
“Daughters of the Keffiyeh”
I
They rise before dawn,
their hands weaving bread and freedom,
eyes bright as the olive’s heart,
souls whispering through the wind of exile.
II
From Gaza’s dust to Nablus’ dawn,
they carry the scent of resistance,
cradling the children of tomorrow
in arms unbroken by blockade or loss.
III
Their keffiyehs flutter like banners of breath,
threads of black and white
binding grief to grace,
and silence to song.
IV
They choose the veil, they lift the veil,
not for command, not for gaze —
but as a dance of will and dignity,
a quiet revolution of fabric and fire.
V
Each footstep upon the stones of Hebron
is a prayer written in dust and blood;
each tear shed beneath the fig trees
waters the roots of return.
VI
O sisters of steadfastness,
you are not the shadows of men —
you are the sunrise itself,
the pulse beneath the rubble.
VII
The world may silence your name,
but your heartbeat drums in every march,
in every chant that crosses oceans,
in every keffiyeh worn in solidarity.
VIII
And when freedom breathes again in Palestine,
it shall speak in a woman’s voice —
strong, tender, unwavering —
like the wind that never surrenders.
Mohammed Hassan Abdullah*
