Embroidered Makeup Bag - Date Palm, Purple

The Melkite Pastoral Center was established in 1988 during the first Intifada (Palestinian uprising) in the city of Ramallah by the sisters of Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church Center. The center gives income-generation opportunities through sewing and embroidery work to more than 180 women from 17 villages and 2 refugee camps in the central West Bank.

The Center also organizes social activities for women, such as the Mother’s Day celebration, and lectures on women’s issues, and arranges homemade Palestinian dishes cooked by the embroiderers for tour groups visiting the city.

The Melkite Church provides facilities where women obtain fabric and thread, which they take home to embroider, in exchange for wages. The products are inspired by traditional designs that decorate Palestinian women's dresses, and symbolically represent the hills, trees, and flowers of the country.

Sunbula, a Jerusalem-based non-profit fair trade organization, is a platform that supports marginalized women and communities in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian communities within Israel through traditional artisanal crafts.