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Hand Made, Fair Trade: Palestinian Handicrafts: A Brief History For thousands of years now, pilgrims have been coming to the Holy Land because of the vital religious significance it holds for Christians, Muslims and Jews. Many Christian pilgrims, of course, come to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and their desire to take home locally made items as remembrances of their visit has, through the centuries, encouraged and sustained indigenous traditions of craftsmanship. The carving of olive wood into religious objects (Nativity scenes, crucifixes, rosary beads, etc.) has been a central part of these traditions for centuries. Mother-of-Pearl was introduced to the area by Franciscan monks who came to Bethlehem in the 14th century, adding beautiful jewelry and other richly decorated household objects to the artisans’ repertoires. Vibrantly painted ceramic, hand-blown glass, and delicately embroidered cloth all also became, and remain, popular hand-made souvenirs of Palestine. The handicrafts industry has been passed down from generation to generation and is strongly rooted in contemporary Palestinian culture and society. It has become a crucial part of our identity and of our artistic self-expression. Current Issues for the Craft Industry Competition between workshops
Lack of Tourism
Cost of raw materials
Exporting Internationally Over the last 10 years the exportation of handicrafts from the Holy Land has increased tremendously, which has been very beneficial for communities devastated by the drastic decrease in revenue from tourism. However, this has also had a detrimental effect on many local workshops that do not have the means or the contacts available to export internationally. This has hugely divided the handicraft industry between very wealthy workshops and very poor workshops. Many larger workshops have family living abroad who buy very cheaply from small local workshops and sell with huge profit margins to westerners. Those who sell reap the benefits but those small workshops do not; they continue to suffer, often barely making ends meet. The Benefits of Fair Trade for Palestinian Handicrafts
Helps decrease discrimination within the community Fair Trade principles mandate that all our artisans and producers be treated fairly, regardless of religion, race, or gender. For us, primarily, this signifies not favoring a particular workshop or its products simply because the artisans are Christian or Muslim. Working together to advertise, produce, and sell our products helps us overcome endemic discrimination of this kind. Fair Trade also emphasizes the role of women within the workforce. In our more traditional communities, women’s role is usually seen as restricted to the domestic sphere, but economic pressures have created opportunities (and sometimes pressure) for women to work outside the home. Fair Trade ensures that their work is equally valid and respected, and fairly compensated. One of the workshops that partners with our Cooperative focuses on training local handicapped people, who would not otherwise have opportunities for work, let alone for their personal artistic development, to make beautiful greeting cards. Our communities, unfortunately, sometimes view the handicapped as a burden rather than as full and potentially productive members of society. Fair Trade encourages us to address these inequalities.
Conclusion Fair Trade has already had many positive influences on our businesses and our local communities, and has helped prevent the decline of our artistic traditions. But we still have a distance to travel in terms of preserving the knowledge and skills embodied in the handicrafts industry for the future. The Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative Society |