A traditional dress worn by Palestinian women was not the kind of clothing one would expect to become a sign of political expression. The brightly colored, embroidered woman’s dress is known as a “thobe,” notes the Associated Press. Now the thobe is gaining popularity as a softer means of identifying with the fight for the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is even competing with the keffiyeh, the head covering worn by Palestinian men protesting Israel’s occupation of land they call their home. The thobe is covered with complex, colorful embroidery, all put together by hand. It requires months of hard work to make. Some thobes have been sold to buyers for thousands of dollars. The use of traditional cloth is a celebration of simpler times, when poor Palestinian women would make thobes while resting from a hard day’s work in the fields. Rashida Tlaib is the first female Palestinian American member of the United States Congress. Last month she wore her mother’s thobe at her official swearing-in ceremony. The move has led women around the world, especially in Palestinian territories, to publish pictures of themselves in traditional dress on the Twitter social networking service.
