1.Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, using Tahriri embroidery
DESIGN: Hamada Atallah
[Al Quds], Al Quds, Palestine
EMBROIDERY: Suhair Handal, Bethlehem; Marcel Rabie, Randa Abu Ghattas, Beit Jala, Palestine
The birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. “And so it was…that Mary gave birth to a son in a stable. She called him Jesus and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger of hay.”
ERA: Roman Period (63 BCE–325 CE)
2.Godfrey de Bouillon and Crusaders
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Bridgman Images, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
EMBROIDERY: Dowlat Abu Shaweesh [Ne’ane], Ramallah, Palestine
The First Crusade began in 1099 when Pope Urban II called for a military expedition to help the Byzantines take control of the Holy Land. This inaugurated a period of two centuries in which Christians and Muslims often fought one another.
ERA: Crusader Period (1099–1291)
3.“On this Land,” Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian National Poet
SOURCE OF IMAGE/DESIGN: Ibrahim Muhtadi [Al Quds], Gaza, Palestine
EMBROIDERY: Hekmat Ashour [Gaza], Gaza, Palestine
“We have on this land that which makes this life worth living.” —Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian National Poet
Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish is renowned for his poems about Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the struggle for freedom and liberation for the Palestinian people.
4.Olive Harvest
DESIGN: Hamada Atallah [Al Quds] Al Quds, Palestine
EMBROIDERY: Dowlat Abu Shaweesh [Ne’ane], Ramallah, Palestine
Olives and olive oil symbolize Palestinian land, identity and culture. The olive tree is seen by many Palestinians as a symbol of nationality and connection to the land, particularly due to the slow growth and longevity of the tree. The destruction of Palestinian olive trees has become a feature of the Israeli occupation, with regular reports of damage and destruction by Israeli settlers.
5.Faris Odeh, Standing Alone, 8 Nov 2000
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Laurent Rebours, Associated Press
EMBROIDERY: Nawal Ibrahim al Ahmed [Tabariyeh], Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon
On 29 October 2000, during the second month of the Second Intifada, a French photojournalist photographed 15-year-old Faris Odeh from the Zeitoun quarter in Gaza City confronting an Israeli tank with a stone at the Karni crossing into the Gaza Strip. Ten days later, on 8 November, Odeh was again throwing stones at the Karni crossing when he was fatally wounded by Israeli troops. The boy and the image subsequently assumed iconic status as a symbol of opposition to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
ERA: Sumud – Steadfastness (1948 onwards)
6.Destruction of Bedouin Villages
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Painting by Bashir Abu-Rabia’
DESIGN: Bashir Abu-Rabia (Naqab)
EMBROIDERY: Naama al Awawdah [Es Samu], Khalil District.
This panel draws attention to the cycle of destruction and reconstruction of many Bedouin villages, including Al-Arakeeb, Um El-Heran, and threatened Khan Al-Ahmar in the Jordan Valley. These villages have been destroyed by the Israeli Army in a policy of further ethnic cleansing to establish Jewish-only settlements. The panel is inspired by a painting by Bashir Abu-Rabia’, the first Bedouin artist in the Negev, who began featuring Palestinian embroidery in his paintings in 1969.
ERA: Sumud – Steadfastness (1948 onwards)
7.Sumud (Steadfastness)
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Samar Alhallaq [Majdal], Gaza, Palestine
EMBROIDERY: Samar Alhallaq [Majdal], Gaza, Palestine
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails use hunger strikes to protest against prolonged administrative detention without trial. This embroidery is based on an image by an unnamed illustrator, which was disseminated widely among activists on social networks in an expression of solidarity with the mass hunger strike. The image endeavoured to raise awareness of the suffering of Palestinian women prisoners and their steadfast determination to attain their rights. The Arabic lettering reads “Samedoun” (“We are steadfast”). The Hebrew lettering reads “Shabas,” the Israeli Prison Service. The panel was stitched in Oxford by Samar Alhallaq in 2013.
She and her children were killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza in 2014.
ERA: Sumud – Steadfastness (1948 onwards)
8.Palestinian Henna Party
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Traditional design
EMBROIDERY: Ruba Al Behery [Bir Seb’a], Gaza
Palestinian wedding ceremonies start the night before the wedding day, when women from the bride’s family and her friends gather to sing, dance, and apply temporary tattoos with henna, a plant dye. Older women decorate the skin of the bride and her guests with designs that often take hours to complete. Decorations put on the bride’s legs represent the return of the dove to Noah, as evidence that the flood’s destruction was over. The women wear traditional, hand-embroidered dresses, with that of the bride being the most beautiful.
9.Palestinian Wedding
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Traditional design | EMBROIDERY: Mothers’ Embroidery Group, Al Deheishe Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, Palestine
This panel displays a typical Palestinian country wedding with its rituals, Dabke folk dance, the bride on a horse, and traditional music. The Dabke dance is characteristic of the whole of the Levant, with the music and the dance steps differing slightly from place to place. Palestinian cuisine is the cuisine of the Levant—msakhan, maftoul, kibbeh, hummus, and mansaf, for example—which have become very widely known and appreciated.
10.Tahriri Embroidery
SOURCE OF IMAGE:Traditional design
EMBROIDERY: Amari Women’s Group Ramallah, Palestine
An example of tahriri embroidery with traditional cross stitch. This tahriri sample has been stitched by the Amari Women’s Group in Ramallah. The Women’s Child Care Society in Bet Jala is maintaining the traditional Bethlehem tahriri stitching by training local women to produce embroidered items for the tourist market, providing income for women working from home. Tahriri stitching is also known as couching, and is used to preserve golden threads used in the decoration of church raiments.
12.“Jerusalem, you are beloved”
DESIGN: Haroon Haj Amer, Drejat, Naqab
EMBROIDERY: Yasmeen Haj Amer, Drejat, Naqab
“You have a great place in our hearts. Oh Jerusalem, you are beloved.”—from a poem by Lutfi Zaghloul
ERA: Sumud—Steadfastness (1948 onwards)
11.Check Point, 1967–
DESIGN: Based on tapestry created by Hannah Ryggen (Norway)
EMBROIDERY: Karema Nasser [Barbara], Gaza, Palestine
During the 1967 war, Israel occupied what remained of Palestine. Hundreds of military checkpoints were established in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in Gaza. These are used to entrench Israel’s occupation of all of historic Palestine. Movement of Palestinians is restricted within the occupied Palestinian territory, with dire consequences for access to education, health care, and the economy. The design of this panel is influenced by “The Death of Dreams,” a tapestry woven by Hannah Ryggen at the time of the German occupation of Norway during the second World War.
ERA: Sumud—Steadfastness (1948 onward)