Dress
The traditional clothing of Israel is rooted in their religion and history. Being a relatively young country, the people are divided by ethnicity and religion as well as being divided by history and culture. For many of the Muslims in Israel the dress is a combination of traditional Arabian dress and modern western-styled clothing, while the Jewish population dresses almost entirely in western-styled clothing.
For Muslim men this traditional dress is rarely, but sometimes includes a white dishdasha, which is a loose-fitting garment that completely covers a person from the neck down. Likewise, Muslim women don't often wear traditional Arab dress, but some do, traditionally a black outfit also called a dishdasha or an abaya; however the decoration and detail of a woman's dress tends to be much more significant than a man's. Both men and women in traditional dress cover their hair; women wear a black cloth called a hijab, which is wrapped around their neck so only their faces can be seen, while men wear a black and white checkered cloth called a keffiyeh. Despite some Muslims wearing these outfits, few Israeli Muslims today wear these conservative outfits and more commonly in Israel the Muslims wear western-styled clothing with the traditional headwear. These clothes are similar to what can be seen in much of the world, but both men and women tend to cover up with long-sleeved shirts and pants.
For the Jewish population the dress is very western-influenced as many of the Jews that live in Israel today, or their ancestors, moved to the region from Europe so traditionally wore European-styled clothing. Although this clothing is rooted in European styles, there are a couple elements that make the dress distinctly Jewish. First is the kippa (or yamaka), which is a head covering to show reverence to God. Next is the tallit, which is a prayer shawl, and lastly a hat, which is often times worn in place of, or over, the kippa. These hats vary in style, but for men it tends to be a simple black top hat. Again, few Israeli Jews wear any of these clothing pieces on a regular basis, but in Jerusalem they are much more common, especially the black hat, which is regularly wore by Orthodox Jews.