Palestinian women knit Jewish skullcaps

DEIR ABU MESHAL, West Bank: Of all the cottage industries you might expect to find in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the crocheting of Jewish skullcaps by Palestinian hands seems one of the oddest.

But creating the colorful cap, known in Hebrew as a "kippah", keeps hundreds of women busy in villages like Deir Abu Meshal, which have been making the religious headgear for their Jewish neighbors for some 40 years.

Almost every house in the village of 3,000 west of Ramallah makes the little caps. It's a social event as well as a helpful cash-earner. Women bring their wool and needles to each other's home to crochet and chat.