Embroidery production system in current Palestinian Territories

Abstract

Palestinian peasant and bedouin women started embroidery to reinforce their cloth for heavy labor, then embroidery spread all region in Palestine. Palestine War had begun in 1948, women had no longer been able to make embroidery. Palestinian women re-produce embroidery under occupation by Israel with the support of NGOs for economical independence and the cultural identity as Palestinian. Nowadays not only NGOs but also cooperatives are established to produce embroidery. We investigated fieldwork research in West Bank how they produce embroidery and it became clear that production system differs among NGOs and cooperatives. However, research on embroidery and economical independence has not been done enough.

The Society of Inash al Usra, Palestinian local NGO in Ramallah, West Bank, was established in 1965 and support village women in Ramallah and about 5000 women register as embroider. UNRWA Embroidery Project Sulafa is NGO and was established in 1950 in Gaza city by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees) as a part of social service program, and support refugee women in 8 refugee camps in Gaza district. About 300 refugee women register as embroider. Both of NGOs provide embroidery work for village women or refugee women and pay wage according to their work. NGO staff finish as final products, pricing and selling to sales-supporting NGOs and retail shops. On the other hand, women in Al-Amari refugee camp near the city of Ramallah, established cooperatives by themselves with about 30 embroidery group members in 1993. Cooperative members produce embroidery, finishing as final products, pricing and selling to sales-supporting NGOs and retail shops.

The 1995 Oslo II Accord established the administrative division of the West Bank into areas A, B, and C. Area A is administered by the Palestinian National Authority; Area B: by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel; and Area C is administered by Israel. 61% of the land of West Bank is Area C and most of this land is agricultural land. Especially farmers in area C have to be cope with severe restrictions by Israeli government and suffer from low income. We researched if there is a difference between the area they live and the income they get from embroidery work. Results show that women who works with the support of NGO can earn income regardless of the area they live.