page_title: Palestinian handicrafts
section_title: Embroidery and weaving
hierarchical_section_title: Palestinian handicrafts / Embroidery and weaving
caption_attribution_description: English: Modern cross stitch designs from Palestine: Clockwise from top left: Gaza, Ramallah, Ramallah, Nablus, Beit Jalla, Bethlehem.
context_page_description: Palestinian handicrafts are handicrafts produced by Palestinian people. A wide variety of handicrafts, many of which have been produced by Arabs in Palestine for hundreds of years, continue to be produced today. Palestinian handicrafts include embroidery work, pottery-making, soap-making, glass-making, weaving, and olive-wood and Mother of Pearl carvings, among others. Some Palestinian cities in the West Bank, particularly Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus have gained renown for specializing in the production of a particular handicraft, with the sale and export of such items forming a key part of each cities' economy.
context_section_description: An exclusively female artistic tradition, embroidery has been a key feature of traditional Palestinian costumes for hundreds of years. Two main types of embroidery are tatreez (cross-stitch embroidery) and tahriri (couching-stitch embroidery).
  The production of cloth for traditional Palestinian costumes and for export throughout the Arab world was a key industry of the destroyed village of Majdal. Malawi weaving, as the technique is known, is woven by a male weaver on a single treadle loom, using black and indigo cotton threads combined with fuchsia and turquoise silk threads. While the village no longer exists today, the craft of Majdalawi weaving continues as part of a cultural preservation project run by the Atfaluna Crafts organization and the Arts and Crafts Village in Gaza City.
  Gaza itself was a center for cloth production, famous for a fine silk produced there that was known as gazzatum. Imported to Europe as early as the 13th century, this fabric later gave its name to the loose weave fabric known today as gauze.
  Bedouin weaving is traditionally carried out by women to create household items suited for the life in the desert. The thread is spun from sheep's wool, colored with natural dyes, and woven into a fabric using a ground loom and the strong fabric produced is used for tents, rugs, pillows, and other domestic items.
caption: Some examples of modern cross-stitch designs. From top left, clockwise: Gaza, Ramallah, Ramallah, Nablus, Beit Jalla, Bethlehem.
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