Published: 29 June 2024
Last updated: 14 August 2024
It will never cease to amaze me that when two people look at an object, they can experience two radically different associations. That’s because it’s not just beauty that’s in the eye of the beholder, it’s also context and lived experience.
To someone who came to Australia fleeing persecution and found safety and comfort, the Australian flag might represent hope, new beginnings and a fair go.
However, to many Aboriginal people, the Australian flag represents colonisation, violence, disenfranchisement and a country that allows the sovereign owners of the land on which they live to die on average almost a decade sooner than the non-Aboriginal population.
In the early days of the current war in the Middle East, I saw a social media post by someone who had walked into a bookshop and demanded the owner remove the Palestinian flag displayed in the front window, because it was “antisemitic”.
By the same token, I know people who have been abused for wearing a Star of David in public because it apparently denotes their commitment to the genocide and murder of babies. It’s the same with the Israeli flag; to show pride or stand under an Israeli flag means you are not just a murder apologist, but an active, enthusiastic participant.
What we have here is more than a fundamental inability for people on both sides to really listen. We are also seeing deliberate attempts on both sides to police the identity – and the way that identity is expressed – of the other, instead of asking questions that might enlighten or inform them.
The keffiyeh came to prominence during the 1936-39 Palestinian uprising, though its history in the region goes back much further. Different versions of the keffiyeh have different cultural associations, but the black and white keffiyeh was made famous by Yasser Arafat and is now a symbol of Palestinian nationalism and pride. For the vast majority of Palestinian people and their allies, the keffiyeh is a symbol of Palestinian pride, culture and the dream of true, meaningful Palestinian statehood.
Comments4
Julia11 December at 11:19 pm
Reading The Age on Thursday, December 11, 2025, and its article titled “Teen Removed Over Her Palestine Necklace,” reporting on the removal of Zaina Amro’s image and article from the Bayside Council newsletter—despite the piece simply acknowledging her volunteer award at the local library—underscores how far we are from the principles you promote about respecting each other’s views, including those expressed through “wearables.” I wear a religious cross myself and recognise that while it is a symbol of faith for me, it also carries cultural and political significance for others.
These are very complex issues, of course, but after spending 34 years as an expat in the United States, I have returned to Australia to find a level of divisiveness that feels both disheartening and senseless. The Council could have and should have handled this quite differently.
Andi26 November at 05:34 am
With all due respect, everytime someone hijacked a plane they were wearing a Keffiyah and everytime someone during the intifada killed Jews in the name of a one state solution …they were wearing a keffiyah. No one is walking around with white robes and hoods because it is a symbol of the kkk and lynching. The Palestinian people deserve to live in peace but voted Hamas in and also celebrated the factual murder of 1200 Jews ..many recorded partying that day. Their leadership over the last 75 years demands a one state only their state. So although your article tries to paint this picture of solidarity and a beautiful history of the Keffiyah, it fails to mention the history of how it has been used to kill Jews.
Roddi Walker11 October at 04:03 pm
Excellent Isabelle