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“Each stitch tells our stories
About our longing for our children who traveled abroad desiring a better life
About our longing for those who were taken from us and put behind bars
About our never-ending longing for angels that are now six feet under and never got to experience life
The stitches represent our life and traditions
Represent our dreams of freedom and glory
Represent our green lands and old high cypresses
Represent our tears, fears, and exhaustion
And emphasizes that we’ve been here forever” - Rasha & The Women of Jenin
In Palestine, the norm is the exception, and the abnormality of occupation is an everyday reality. By prioritizing and seeking the normal, it disrupts common sense and reshapes the concept of the sensible, leading to the emergence of new identities and imaginaries. Fashion practices in zones of conflict are inherently political, and in the case of Palestine, they are unable to detach from larger geopolitical issues of war and nationalism.
A Photograph of a Woman Facing an Israeli Soldier in Ramallah
COURTESY OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM
CONTESTANTS OF MISS UNIVERSE 2021 WEARING THOBES WHILE PROMOTING ISRAEL'S TOURISM
Following the 1967 war, in which Israel's territory grew four times its size at the expense of Palestine, Palestinian dresses became accessible for Israelis to purchase. Hagar Salamon, an Israeli author, describes these dresses as a "reflection of Orientalist exoticism and 'victory fashion,' with all its complexities and contradictions." Palestinian embroidery became intertwined with Palestinian and Israeli memory. In 2021, the Miss Universe competition held in Eilat, Israel, sparked controversy involving cultural appropriation and erasure. Contestants posted on social media wearing traditional Palestinian thobes, singing traditional Palestinian folk songs, and rolling grape leaves as part of a #VisitIsrael campaign. It is important to note that the city of Eilat was built upon the ruins of a small Palestinian fishing town of Umm al-Rashrash during the Nakba. By claiming these pieces of Palestine as Israeli, it fuels the ongoing theft, occupation, and exile of Palestinian culture.
Palestinian Thobe Registered in the Guinness Book of Records as Longest Dress in the World, Hebron, 2009 (DESIGNED BY Maha Saca)
COURTESY OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM
In 2010, Maha Saca collaborated with the House of the Palestinian Child in Hebron to design the largest Palestinian dress ever made, which measured 400 square meters in size. Saca selected embroidered motifs from various cities and villages of Palestine, and the dress won the Guinness world record for the world's largest embroidered dress that year. Saca stated that she was motivated to document the embroidery and protect it from attempted theft and appropriation.
Rashida Tlaib Wearing a Palestinian thobe to be Sworn Into Congress, January 3rd, 2019
courtesy of Elle magazine
Palestinians living abroad have increasingly become interested in informing the world about the lost culture of Palestine and establishing a positive Palestinian presence by educating future generations about the past. Most notably, Rashida Tlaib, the U.S. Democratic representative for Michigan's 12th congressional district is the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress. At her swearing-in ceremony in 2019, Tlaib wore a traditional Palestinian thobe as a reflection of her memory as a child watching her mother, who came to the United States at age 20, hand-stitch the traditional dresses.
CoURTESY OF @theIMEU ON TWITTER
RASHIDA TLAIB'S CHOICE TO WEAR A THOBE INSPIRED THE HASHTAG #TWEETYOURTHOBE, IN WHICH FOUR THOUSAND WOMEN PARTICIPATED BOTH ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM.
Wafa GhnaiM AND Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim
TATREEZ AND TEA WORKSHOP
The Tatreez Institute (معهد التطريز), also known as Tatreez & Tea, is a Palestinian-led educational arts initiative that focuses on the preservation, documentation, and research of textiles in the South West Asia & North Africa (SWANA) region. Founded by Wafa Ghnaim, The Tatreez Institute aims to continue the rich traditions of embroidery, textiles, and storytelling of Palestine, the Palestinian diaspora, and Greater Syria within the United States. Inspired by her mother, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, who spent decades with the UNRW teaching embroidery in refugee camps, Wafa has developed workshops and lectures aimed at educating Americans on tatreez.
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