Chapter II
Chapter II: The Architecture of Palestinian ثياب
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Navigate Chapter II
Resistance is colloquially conceptualized as expressing discontent with the current status quo. Resistance is generally associated with particular acts, including protests, boycotts, and sit-ins. While these acts are predominantly used to express discontent and are produced under political and historical contexts, we find resistance embedded within other contexts. Resistance assumes forms that extend beyond historical and political contexts where we also find resistance within cultural contexts. More specifically, fashion. Individuals often transmit cultural contexts and social identities through design. In that accord, fashion breaks the barricades of the simple conceptualization of fashion as a decorative affair and assumes a more sophisticated role in society.
In more accurate terms, fashion is a compilation of design, architecture, and movement that work synchronously to produce a statement. Based on the corrected conceptualization, this chapter considers fashion a cultural phenomenon used to regularly communicate and forecast complicated social enigmas and feelings. Within that frame of understanding, fashion can also be deployed as a weapon of resistance and acknowledged as an everyday form of resistance. As a part of the ongoing pursuit to commemorate and illustrate Palestinian culture, this chapter explores how traditional attire evolved to incorporate the culture of resistance. The chapter particularly circles in on the keffiyeh and the female thobe as an emblem of expression that demonstrates the Palestinian heritage and its significant political demeanor.
التطريز الفلسطيني
The traditional Palestinian thobe for women is a dress with hand-curated embroidery. The Palestinian embroidery, colloquially referred to as tatrez (embroidery) is demonstrated through different motifs that reflect different symbols of rural lifestyles (i.e., imagery of birds and trees). The designs serve as a testament to the Palestinian agricultural culture, where prior to Al-Nakba, Palestine was predominantly a rural region. Moreover, each tatrez design is exceptionally crafted to communicate social and geographical phenomena. Each Palestinian region has a dedicated pattern of tatrez. Not only are they used to convey the regional origin simply, but the distinguished patterns are also used to disclose socio-economic position and marital status.
The Palestinian thobe does not merely garner designs and patterns that act as social indications; the techniques used to craft the Palestinian tatrez also play a prominent role in illustrating the compound of their customs. Consequently, the techniques Palestinians use to curate their tatrez also hold secondary implications. The most notable techniques are cross-stitching and couching stitch, which are generally associated with social positioning. Palestinians predominantly used the cross-stitching technique in Palestine's southern and coastal areas. On the other hand, couching was native to the women in Bethlehem, who mainly employed it to engineer festive thobes. Accordingly, women's work in Bethlehem was highly regarded and regionally noted as the crème de la crème of local textiles.
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A Form of Silent Resistance: Embroidered Resistance
During the First Intifada in the late 1980s, a period of demonstrations and protests following the Israeli truck crash in Gaza that led to four Palestinian deaths, women took to embroidering as a form of resistance. Women during that period resorted to embroidering their native motifs onto their gowns as a means of retaliating against Israeli occupation. This narrative continued well into today’s resistance culture, where Palestinians globally encourage the production of their embroidery motifs and techniques. Combinations of color, motif, and technique that collectively cultivated distinctive designs meticulously represented different regions in Palestine. Thus, continuing production and educating younger generations is an effort deployed by Palestinians to preserve and commemorate their culture. More so, the continued reminder of traditional practices native to specific areas in old Palestine are attempts to negate misguided colonial proclaims. In other words, it is a mode of expressing resistance by affirming the existence of Palestine and rebutting the colonial notion that Zionists established Israel on a land without people.
Deciphering the Palestinian Keffiyeh
The keffiyeh is traditionally worn by men as a head-dress for protection against the sun and sand. The Palestinian keffiyeh, meticulously tailored black and white designs, is believed to have originated in the Iraqi City of Kufa and made its way to Palestine during the British Mandate. The intricately assembled design of the Palestinian keffiyeh is curated to communicate the Palestinians’ connection to their land and honor their culture. The architecture of the keffiyeh includes attributes to the Mediterranean Sea, olive leaves reflecting Palestinian resistance, and a chain of bold lines referencing ancient trade routes.
Political Resistance in Black and White
The keffiyeh gained initial political popularity in Palestine during the Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936). In April 1936, an attack was launched by Palestinian fighters, known as the fedayeen, against British soldiers. A British soldier, who was present during the attack, reported that the fedayeen wore head garments to conceal their identities. To further aggravate the British and stall their search to locate the Palestinian fighters, Palestinians across the region retaliated by wearing keffiyehs. While this marked the first occasion of Palestinian political resistance demonstrated through the keffiyeh, the ritual continued with its narrative until today. The keffiyeh’s ongoing global political importance is credited to Yassir Arafat, the renowned Palestinian political leader and later President of the Palestinian National Authority. Arafat upheld the political eminence of the keffiyeh by wearing it publicly. His persistence in displaying the keffiyeh, particularly when engaging in political appearances, asserted its prominence as a part of the Palestinian movement. His persistence to showcase the keffiyeh was mainly evident during the UN General Assembly meeting in 1974, where Arafat wore the keffiyeh as a silent act of solidarity that demanded international attention. This pivotal moment placated the keffiyeh as not merely the regional form of silent resistance but an international rayah (flag) for Palestinian solidarity.
The symbolic interaction theory, crafted by George Herbert Mead, suggests that humans create their realities through appearances. These particular appearances garner symbols that are conceptualized through their social interactions. This theory is profoundly applicable when understanding the Palestinians’ use of fashion and design to cultivate a reality of resistance and solidarity. Correspondingly, the creativity of Palestinian design can be translated into a form of cultural and political storytelling. This enlightening form of storytelling exceeds the barricades of mere commemoration and induces an advent narrative of retaliation. Palestinians restored to fashion as a means of yielding protection, as an effort to commemorate culture, as a substance of solidarity, and finally, as a proclamation of what is rightfully theirs against Israeli appropriation. There are multiple occasions where the colonizers are found acclaiming rights to Palestinian customs and traditions. These acts of appropriation are present today. By displaying and preserving the traditional Palestinian attire and its techniques, we manage to continue instituting our reality of silent resistance and commemoration.