Refuting the allegations of the occupation, Embroidery is a Palestinian art that enters the world from its widest doors

Recording Palestinian embroidery globally is an affirmation of the Palestinian people's adherence to their land, and it is one of the symbols of the national identity that Israel is trying to steal.

Ibtisam Abu Jaber did not know that we would call her Thursday morning to set up a quick meeting with her in which we will discuss the latest and most prominent embroideries she has prepared during this year, in which the identity of the Palestinians and the depth of their heritage are established. As one of the "most expensive and beautiful" embroidered pieces she made for herself 15 years ago.

A Palestinian refugee in Lebanon: my aunt's dress, embroidered with red patterns, made my cause

As one of the pioneers of the Palestinian embroidery art for more than 30 years, Ibtisam considered that the inclusion of the art of Palestinian embroidery, officially on the UNESCO Representative List of the World Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is a victory for Palestine, its heritage and its cause in general.

At her place of work as a teacher in the “Riyad Al-Salihin” Kindergarten in Nablus, we met her, and she started talking to us as she threw her ornate shawl over her shoulders and carried her purse, her “bag” embroidered in bright red about her experience and her persistence in embroidery as an essential part of her life.

With eagerness and passion for this heritage color, Ibtisam tells AJ Net that she has - during the year - completed 3 large pieces between a dress, shawl and other embroideries, all of which she will add to her treasury from previous works that beautify her home or wear them on occasions, especially weddings, and others that benefit financially and market them locally and globally.

Embroidery and documentation

In the Balata camp for Palestinian refugees, Ibtisam Sharaf descends, and through her presence in the women’s center, she supervises women from the camp who work in embroidery as a way of living, and in turn, she provides them with her extensive experience and work tools and helps them market it.

In the camp, the old embroideries are also revived, so elderly women gather their old dresses and restore them or take pieces from them, and insert them on new works to produce new paintings represented by hangings for the home, pillows, accessories and various ornaments.

Embroidery is not a craft or a profession that this citizenship masters. Rather, it is a way to preserve the Palestinian heritage. She does not leave an event or a place without promoting it locally and globally, just as her mother taught her, “who wore my grandmother’s dress and carried me as a 40-day-old girl who was displaced again during the Palestinian setback in 1967 from Asylum station in Balata camp to villages east of Nablus.

Ibtisam acted on the will of the grandmother and mother, so she gifted the dress to one of her daughters and recommended her inheritance of embroiderers for them, especially her special shawl, which she wove with the “peasant stitch” and engraved it with the most famous and most beautiful models embroidered from the terrain of Palestine (cypress, feathers, rose and spike) and geometric shapes that added creativity and beauty to the work.

In her beautiful style, this Palestinian woman defines embroidery as "Palestine with its mountains, sea, lake, valleys, hills, and valleys mixed with each other, giving a beautiful thing called embroidery."

She believes that the global registration of the Palestinian embroidery art "gives our heritage and heritage an international value and prevents its circulation or theft through any people in the world, even the Israeli occupation, which robbed the Palestinians of everything" and called for preserving heritage in all its forms of food and clothing "by taking a day out of every week or month to commemorate it." ".

The art of embroidery extending to the Canaanite era was adopted by the Palestinian woman to beautify her dress by weaving various inscriptions over it, and every Palestinian city was distinguished by its veins of geometric shapes, plants, trees, flowers and birds, its bright and dark colors, and its threads between silk, cotton, brocade and machine.

Vivid memory

Documenting this ancient heritage globally, Palestinian Minister of Culture Atef Abu Seif sees it as “a victory for the Palestinian narrative based on the right of our people to their land, and a way to a greater mission to preserve and protect the Palestinian heritage and pass it on to future generations.”

Abu Seif says - in a statement that AJ Net received a copy of - that they worked to record the art of embroidery during two years with the support of the custodians of Palestinian heritage inside and outside by attaching all documents that demonstrate his Palestinianness for thousands of years.

With this global registration, the Palestinians will face - according to Abu Seif - the policy of stealing Palestinian heritage, history and identity, which Israel deposes. "Heritage is the living reservoir of our people's memory on this land, and preserving it is a must because of the necessity of facing an occupation that harnesses all its capabilities to erase and steal."

Abu Seif called on international organizations to stand up to their responsibilities in respecting international resolutions and not to deal with the brutality of the occupation and its attempts to steal Palestinian heritage, stressing that the new UNESCO decision will put everyone in front of their legal responsibility.

Years of effort, not reaction

Israel is working with all its might to document the Palestinian heritage and its various tools of food, drink and fashion as an Israeli tradition, and its latest attempt was the appearance of Miss World in Israel in the traditional Palestinian dress.

The latest attempt by the occupation to falsify the Palestinian heritage was what was promoted by international fashion models who wore the Palestinian dress about 3 weeks ago as being an Israeli heritage.

Buthaina Hamdan from the Ministry of Culture told AJ NEWS, which celebrated today and the female workers in the ministry by wearing the Palestinian embroidered dress, that the UNESCO decision confirms the Palestinianness of embroidery.

Nor is it a "reaction" to the recent occupation measure with the models, but rather the harvest of two years of Palestinian effort to document embroidery as one of the pillars of their heritage.

Palestinians celebrate their various national and religious occasions in embroidered Palestinian dress in support of their heritage, and government institutions, especially schools, especially females, commit to a day when they wear their traditional embroidered dresses.

Wear your outfit

While Ibtisam celebrated her method of Palestinian embroidery in her kindergarten, Ghada Abdel Hadi, director of the Hawa Center for Culture and Arts in Nablus, was preparing to celebrate the "Palestinian Dress" day under the slogan "Wear like this, who is like you."

And it published on its Facebook page a statement that it said was issued by 30 popular and official Palestinian institutions to respond to the "occupation's aggression" against the heritage of the Palestinians and falsify the truth by dressing the participants in the "Miss Universe" contest in Israel the Palestinian dress, and involving them in preparing grape leaves, kibbeh and others as their heritage.

The director of the Hawa Center for Culture and Arts called on Palestinians everywhere to wear their popular clothes, spread this through the communication sites, and activate this with a cartoon campaign and special tags.

Riyad Al-Malki, the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, had considered - in a press statement to him - that the registration of Palestinian embroidery globally is an affirmation of the Palestinian people's roots in their land, "and it is a symbol of the Palestinian national identity, which is what Israel is trying to steal."

On the UNESCO website

The official UNESCO website published a video clip and pictures documenting the art of Palestinian embroidery and its various forms and patterns over time, and introducing it extensively to practices, skills, knowledge and rituals, as one of the Palestinian national elements on the list of the intangible cultural heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization " UNESCO ". . The decision was widely welcomed on social media.