Jaffa Women's Cooperative

I work with the Jaffa Palestinian women's embroidery co-operative in the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank. The co-op is the only women-owned business in the entire old city. It consists of 120 women in seven villages in the Hebron area, who make embroidered crafts by hand and set their own prices. Many of the women are the sole providers for their families as their husbands have been killed or arrested by the Israeli Army. I help the women sell their crafts in the United States and I also take their packages to Jerusalem so they can be shipped overseas (most Palestinians are not allowed to travel to Jerusalem and there is little or no accessible postal service in the West Bank.)



This project is very important, not only because it empowers Palestinian women, but because the old city of Hebron is under direct Israeli military control. Therefore helping these women survive economically also helps them stay to fight the occupation. Four hundred illegal Israeli settlers have taken over large chunks of the old city. Right above the shop is the Israeli settlement of Beit Haddassah. Several years ago, the Israeli military forcibly welded shut the doors to most shops in the area in an attempt to force Palestinians out of the area to leave room for settler expansion. However, over the last two years, shop-keepers, including the women's co-op, have been returning to the area and reopening their shops in defiance of the Israeli military and settlers.




Life in the old city is not easy. Israeli settlers often throw garbage down on Palestinians shopping below. Doors of Palestinian houses have been spray painted with the Stars of David in a clear attempt to intimate and displace Hebron residents. Israeli soldiers patrol the streets, often stopping to harass the women in the shop and detain young men in the area. The home next to the women's co-operative had its top room burned to a crisp three months ago when Israeli settlers threw a molotov through the window. Yet these women are staying put, and they are continuing to teach themselves and their community how to resist occupation through economic self-sufficiency




Support the women of Palestine!

To find out more about this co-operative, or to buy embroidery from the women, visit http://palestineembroidery.wordpress.com/