Products: Embroidered clergy shawls, table linens and various kitchen items
Beneficiaries: 400 women from the village of Surif.
 

The village of Surif (pop. 15,000) is located alongside the Green Line (1949 Armistice Line separating West Bank and Israel), in a beautiful hilly region between Bethlehem and Hebron.  About a half of the village population is refugees from the 1948 war, who fled their homeland that later became a part of the State of Israel.

In 1950, a group of Mennonite volunteers came to the village to establish the Palestinian Needlework Program, in order to give the refugee women an opportunity to supplement their family income and to enhance their own self-reliance through empowerment.  In 1979, the village women took over the responsibilities to run the project, which, after a period of intensive training, was reborn as Surif Women’s Cooperative, in 1983. 

Over decades, the Cooperative has grown to enroll more than 400 members, reflecting the economic reality of the village.  The men of Surif used to earn wages inside Israel, working as day labor until the first Intifada (1987-1993) broke out and most of them lost their jobs.  Many families then began cultivating their land, turning the village greener as agriculture was to supplement family incomes.  However, farming has recently become endangered, due to the loss of a large area of village land to the construction of the Separation Wall.  As many of Surif’s families have lost their livelihood, many women are seeking to receive work at the Cooperative today. 

Surif’s crafts are known for their distinct style, using cream-colored cotton fabric instead of the common black fabric.  The fabric they use is made in the Old City of Jerusalem, woven on an antique handloom by Adnan Fares, a weaver that carries on the centuries-old tradition.   The embroidery patterns are produced by a system of counting threads, a method that gives the embroidery its striking and exact appearance on both sides of the fabric.  Surif’s designs are adapted from traditional Palestinian dresses and reflect the heritage from different regions of Palestine.

Contact Surif Women’s Cooperative:
Telefax: +972-(0)2-252-3049
OR through Sunbula:
info@sunbula.org
P.O. Box 8619, Jerusalem 91086 

View their products on Sunbula Online Craft Market