Until Monday, when Roya published an article to the contrary, the top two Google results for “What do terrorists wear on their head?” revolved around the Palestinian kuffieya.

While frusterating, the linkage between the Palestinian cause and terrorism is not new. In fact, it’s been a linkage used to discredit and vilify Palestinians for the last century.

In reality, the kuffieya is a cultural facet that has been around since ancient Mesopotamian times, where it was worn as a symbol of status, wealth, and property ownership.

Since that time, it’s meaning has evolved, and the kuffieya has since been worn most commonly by laborers to avoid being burned by the sun.

In the 1930s, during the Arab Revolt, the Palestinian kuffieya took on its modern meaning of resistance for the first time. Palestinians of all social classes began wearing the kuffieya in order to disguise themselves and avoid arrests. Since then, through the 1948 Nakba, the 1967 war, the intifadas, the Great March of Return, and many other uprisings, Palestinians have worn the kuffieya as a symbol of strength.

Activists have joined in, too, using the kuffiya to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Unfortunately, due to misinformation and an ongoing Israeli Occupation propaganda campaign against Palestinians, the real history of the kuffieya remains unknown to most.

Click the video below to learn more about the other ways in which the Palestinian cause is branded as terrorism.