Bloggers 1, Urban Outfitters 0

i studied abroad in egypt last semester and traveled to syria, jordan, morocco, israel,
and turkey. kufayyas are not a symbol of war! each middle eastern
country has their own colors and patterns of kufayyas which are a traditional head
protective garment. they also wear them a lot when they wear galabayyas (the man-dress)
which is also a traditional garment, often worn on fridays when they go to the mosques -
not when they join militant groups. it's their version of a baseball hat or a business
suit (these kufayyas and galabayyas were what they wore daily before the western world
introduced western suits and clothing)! you'll see guys just peacefully walking down the
street wearing them on their way to work or riding their camels/horses/jeeps in the hot
desert sun, not on their way to a political activity. so just because the only time the
media depicts arabs is in terms of terrorism, it doesn't mean that all arabs and their
clothing has to do with militant groups, terrorism, or political termoil. i'm not an
expert on this but i did my fair share of observation and asking questions and i can
promise you that it's not just a palestinian thing. the red and white one is, but there's a 
black and white one which is iraqi. then there's the yemenese one that is a really cool black
and white pattern (different from the iraqi one).  i happen to own one of each and wear
them now as part of the fashion trend which you correctly picked up on - i think it's
pretty sweet looking. but i wear mine also to show my respect for the arab world. so
while you may have a point that most people have no clue where the kuffayyas come from or that they're supposed to go on your head rather than neck, please don't go making
everything arab out to be so controversial. it's just fashion's habitual reinvention of a
classic.