Palestinian artisans

Handmade Palestine is an initiative that showcases the work of over 25 Palestinian artisans, cooperatives and designers from Palestine. Many of the cooperatives create and sell handicrafts also to raise money for wonderful causes in Palestine. If you buy products through Handmade Palestine you are not only supporting the artisans but also the planting of trees in Palestine.

Planting trees in Palestine

One of the important goals of Handmade Palestine is to make Palestine greener. For this purpose they have Mashjar Juthour, an eco project on 2.5 acres of publicly accessible land where native trees are protected and where the community comes to learn about Palestine’s natural heritage. You can learn more about this amazing initiative at juthour.org or on Facebook at MashjarJuthour.

Palestinian handicrafts and products

There are 25 Palestinian artisans that sell through Handmade Palestine, on their website and if possible, at Bazars in Palestine. There is a great variety of products. Of course you can find the Palestinian embroideries, tatreez in Arabic, not only on clothing and scarves but also on other items like cushions and bags.

You can find a lot of different kinds of jewelry including the silver olive leave hangers, earrings and rings.

Nourish your body with traditional Palestinian olive soap and olive oil. Palestine is famous for its high quality olive produce.

Other items include locally produced leather bags and wallets, home decorations, holiday gifts, art work and even baby items and toys.

Social aspect of Handmade Palestine

One of the organizations that Handmade Palestine supports is Ma’an Lil Hayat in Bethlehem. Here they work with people who have an intellectual disability. They give them a chance to meet others, to learn new skills and to produce different items made of felt. The revenue of the sales are to support the organization. They are now working on opening a guesthouse to host tourists in the future. This will create a new opportunity for this challenged youth to learn new skills in hospitality.

You can learn more about the artisans and their work, buy online and support the crowdfunding and online Bazar of Handmade Palestine on their website: https://handmadepalestine.com