Palestine · Textile / Basketry

Palestinian Al-Khawwas Straw and Palm-Frond Basket Weaving

Al-Khawwas (the Arabic term for artisans practicing this craft); tabaq (a woven serving tray); saniya (a woven plate or tray)

The weaving of baskets, trays, mats, and containers from wheat straw, olive and almond twigs, palm fronds, and reeds, a rural Palestinian heritage tradition intrinsic to farming communities for centuries and historically practiced mainly by Bedouin Palestinians, known in Arabic as Al-Khawwas. Historically a source of necessity rather than decoration, woven items served essential domestic and agricultural functions: bread and vegetables were commonly served on woven platters, produce and dried herbs were stored in woven baskets for the winter months, and woven objects were specifically featured at social occasions including weddings, as at the henna ceremony. Fatima Om Mansur, who weaves alongside her granddaughters using straw derived from palm fronds, works entirely by feel, without looking at the movements of her thumb and forefinger, a testament to decades of practiced skill; she directly frames her continued weaving as a form of practical resistance, stating that although demand for her woven items is limited today, she feels she is 'doing duty toward my occupied country' and that finishing a tiring basket leaves her feeling she has preserved 'a Palestinian identity and history which the occupation has tried to obliterate.' Salma Bozeye, founder and director of Bait Al Turath, has woven baskets professionally for more than sixteen years using olive and wheat straw in traditional Palestinian techniques and shapes, sourcing all her materials locally from women in the Salfit region of the West Bank; she has expanded her work into training programs teaching other community members the craft, specifically aiming to create income and empowerment opportunities for more women. Om Yusef, a further named practitioner, not only weaves traditional saniya plates but grows her own wheat and dyes it herself, achieving distinctive coloration in her finished pieces. In a striking instance of gender-reversed transmission, craftsperson Mohammed Zeitoun, who spent much of his childhood with his grandmother in the Galilee village of Najaf, became fascinated by the woven tabaq trays she created and hung on the family home's walls; he has since worked to revive this historically women's weaving tradition, exhibiting tabaqs and other woven items based on heirloom techniques at the Ein Dor Archaeological Museum. Historical photographic archives document reed-basket weaving in Ramallah as early as the 1920s, with material sourced primarily from marshes and wetlands around Hula Lake, used to produce baskets, trays, mats, window-blinds, fans, awnings, and chair seats. The craft's overall prevalence has documented declined over recent decades with the emergence of iron, wood, and plastic manufacturing alternatives, though individual artisans continue actively maintaining the tradition specifically as a way of preserving Palestinian heritage.

Risk level: Endangered · Not independently inscribed