Palestinian embroidery has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List | Art and Culture News

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank – The United Nations Cultural Agency (UNESCO) has added traditional Palestinian embroidery art to its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Wednesday listing It was held at the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Commission for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which brings together hundreds of participants each year from state representatives, including NGOs and cultural organizations.

Palestinian Authority (AP) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh thanked UNESCO for its decision.

“This step is important and timely to protect our Palestinian identity, heritage and narrative in the face of attempts to steal what is not theirs from the occupation,” Shtayyeh said. he said in an appearance on Wednesday.

Palestinian embroidery – or “tatreez” – is an artistic tradition passed down from generation to generation, and includes patterns and motifs hand-sewn with brightly colored thread on clothing. Thobea, a traditional dress worn by Palestinian women, is the most embroidered garment.

Although the practice originated in rural areas, today the culture of sewing and wearing embroidered items is common in cities and towns, with different patterns depicting different regions of historic Palestine and can be seen as an indicator of the economic and civil status of the woman she wears. hura.

PA Culture Minister Atef Abu Saif said the ministry had worked for more than two years to include Palestinian embroidery on the list.

“Heritage is a living repository of the memory of our people on this earth. Preserving the national cultural identity of our heritage is essential to dealing with an occupation that exploits all its capabilities to eradicate and steal it, ”he said in a statement.

“What our grandparents and ancestors created and left us in a heritage of beauty, splendor and deep-rooted roots is the best proof that we are the people of this land,” added Abu Saif.

Wednesday’s list described embroidered Palestinians as “practices of social and intergenerational activity”.

“Women gather in each other’s houses to embroider and sew, often with their daughters. Many women embroider as a hobby, and some produce and sell to supplement their family income, either on their own or in collaboration with other women. ”

The practice is passed from mother to daughter and through formal training courses, the list adds.

UNESCO defines intangible cultural heritage as “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of it, as well as the tools, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated with them. cultural heritage ”.

The list of delegates was launched in 2008. In the 2003 Convention, UNESCO defines the aim of the list is to “ensure greater visibility” and “raise awareness” of the importance of designated elements as a representative of intangible cultural heritage. Popular items on the list include Chinese shadow puppets, French gourmet meals and South Korean kimchi.

Miss Universe controversy

Ahead of the pageant in Eilat, South Eilat, on December 12, Palestinians said it was a possession of their culture in the days leading up to a tour of Israel by contestants for the Miss Universe 2021 pageant.

During their visit to the mainly Bedouin city of Rahat, the candidates posted their images on social media wearing embroidered Palestinian thobes while making the vine leaves full. Miss Philippines Beatrice Luigi Gomez made her very angry heading his photos with a “Day of a Bedouin’s life” along with the hashtag #VisitIsrael.

“Colonialism, racism, cultural appropriation, patriarchy, whitewashing, all in one place,” said Ines Abdel Raz, defense director of the Palestinian Institute of Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and a political analyst at the Al-Shabaka think-tank. he said.

US-based Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) activist group describe As a “cultural theft” and an “attempt at self-indigestion”.

“Through messages promoted by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Miss Universe contestants have shown their commitment to the Palestinian food, clothing and dance traditions, but have called this culture and its territory and people its origin” Israelis. “

“Messages from the Miss Universe show the importance of Israel’s cultural boycott. The Israeli government is clearly using it to glamorize or camouflage oppression of Palestinian culture, so we must collectively refrain from participating in it or paying attention to it,” the group said.

On Wednesday, a group of Palestinian women wearing embroidered tufts embroidered on al-Manara Square in central Ramallah in the occupied West Bank of Ramallah to protest the Miss Universe event.

“I’m wearing this dress, and I’m going to pass it on to my grandson. Today we are here: we have history, civilization and roots, “Nadia Hassan Mustafa, a 70-year-old from Beitin, told Al Jazeera.

Laila Ghannam, the governor of Ramallah, said that “this type of clothing is part of our daily lives and everyone who follows our culture knows that.”

“We don’t use it for fashion shows or beauty queens. Our beauty is known, it is in our mothers, in the mothers of martyrs and prisoners, in the beauty of women who are oppressed, ”Al Jazeera said.

Additional report by Hisham Daraghmeh in Ramallah.