Stained Glass Angels
I love these stained glass angels and doves, created out of the violence of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000. After the Israeli invasion of Bethlehem, some Palestinian women went into the streets to, quite literally, pick up the pieces after the troops and tanks left. They collected shards of glass from shattered windows and broken bottles and made these glass angels and doves. It was their non-violent response to violence.
I love these beautiful works of art that speak louder than words of the yearning for peace in a place that has seen so much violence and oppression. These stained glass doves and angels provides income for families and express a commitment to peace through non-violence.
The items you purchase from Pal Craftaid give both support and hope to artisans and their families. These purchases also support our partner schools in Gaza and in East Jerusalem that seek to develop further Palestinian Christian and Muslim leaders committed to justice and peace in this war-torn land. Your purchases and your donations multiply into food, education, health and hope. For more information, go to our website: www.palcraftaid.org.
~Ervin Bullock
Marketing Chair
A Christmas Cross
My favorite thing is a cross that I first saw on a woodcarver's workbench in a Bethlehem shop. Our Pal Craftaid board was visiting artisans and partners in Bethlehem when it caught my eye.
Delicately done, the cross displays the nativity story in all of its detail. The shepherd's tale is there, as well as the family gathered at the stable. It moves to the flight into Egypt and it depicts the angel songs.
Customers at our sales love this artwork as well. It hangs just inside my front door reminding me of the beauty of the Christmas story and of my commitment to witness and to advocate for our Palestinian friends.
~Corita Swanson
Summer Smocks
It is hard to pick just one thing to write about for I admire many of the items that we sell for Pal Craftaid. But since I have been asked to choose just one, I will select the little girls' dresses made by patrons of the Atfaluna School for the Deaf in Gaza.
The dresses are beautiful with their intricate needlepoint embroidery at the waist, the long sash that makes a beautiful bow in back, the vibrant colors on snowy white cotton fabric, and the meticulously done tucks in the skirt. I like to sell them because they are beautiful to look at.
In addition I enjoy selling them because they attract such interesting people to my table. There are elderly women who stop to admire the handiwork and tell about making similar dresses for their grandchildren. There is the mother who tells about the dress that she had that was made by her grandmother. There is the occasional man who stops to look and marvels that anyone can still take the time to do such intricate work. And there are the mothers with the squirmy daughters who do not want to stand still long enough for us to determine what size fits best.
I also enjoy selling these dresses because people feel good about buying them knowing that they are helping deaf Palestinian children, and this makes me feel good too.
~Mary Witherspoon
Hand-carved Nativities
I've always liked nativities. I like peering into those tiny
hand-carved faces, maybe looking for insight into long ago and how others may grasp the inexplicable birth of God among us. That birth that drew down an angel chorus, but, despite the city's small size, woke no one but a few shepherds in a field below the city's steep slope.
There seems to be a strange quiet about Bethlehem. Even now.
The city sits cut off from Jerusalem by a 30-foot concrete wall that not only inhibits growth but cuts farmers off from ancient olive groves that now sit poorly tended. Artisans hand-stitch shawls and table coverings, purses and eye glass cases for use in countries far away - and stand in long checkpoint lines to enter Jerusalem and deliver goods that will travel further than these women will ever go.
Unemployment only goes up and tourism down due to an ugly mix of occupation and tit-for-tat violence in the region. Olive wood carvers sit and sculpt, shipping off products that tourists once bought off their shelves.
We don't hear much about the economic realities of daily life that occupy the mind of every resident.
So the nativities, yes, prompt us to listen to the familiar story about the city where Christ was born, squalling with new life. And they prompt us to listen to Bethlehem now, where Christ is reborn, and where the artisans, who produce the items that we buy, have stories of their own that are too often swallowed up by quiet.
So my favorite thing remains the nativities - in so many styles, with so many different interpretations of that long ago birth. And the carvers whose hands bring them to life.
~Alexa Smith
