Tatreez, memory, and survival: One Palestinian woman's mission to rebuild Gaza's destroyed Rafah Museum

“We will rebuild the Rafah Museum,” vows Suhaila Shaheen, speaking with strength and determination.

The 62-year-old researcher from Gaza founded the first Palestinian heritage museum in Rafah in December 2022. But on October 10, 2023, Israeli occupation forces bombed the museum, destroying it and damaging its collection of traditional Palestinian thobes (embroidered dresses) and historic artefacts, particularly those belonging to the Fellahin (Palestinian peasant farmers) and Bedouin communities. 

“The streets were empty, and people were afraid to go out," Suhaila tells Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's sister publication.

"The museum was the first heritage and archaeology building in the Gaza Strip to be bombed by the occupation. The western section was targeted, and the strike directly hit the middle of the museum’s roof. Four floors collapsed and were destroyed, and the heritage and archaeological pieces were scattered across the rubble, some damaged, others buried beneath the ruins.” 

Despite the intense atmosphere of fear enveloping the area, Suhaila headed to the building to salvage what remained of her dreams and the years she had devoted to collecting and preserving Palestinian heritage.

There, she found all the artefacts scattered around and buried beneath the rubble. She searched for ancient pottery, old Palestinian coins, and copper pieces, but found nothing.

The straw objects had burned, and the weapons, daggers, and swords had disappeared. Even the traditional tent she had woven was gone without a trace. 

She looked around, remembering what the place had looked like less than a year earlier, when the Rafah municipality had agreed to give her the old building and construction had begun.

A group of volunteers and her three sons, all graduates of Fine Arts from Gaza universities, helped build the museum’s sections and design the glass display cases. But today, there’s nothing left. 

Israel's two-year-long genocide forced the museum’s surviving artefacts into a life of exile and displacement. Under these harsh, sudden conditions, Suhaila has worked hard to preserve what remains of the collection. She was keen to take everything with her, but inevitably lost some pieces with each of the occupation’s evacuation orders.

Despite all this, Suhaila has a clear vision for continuing to collect heritage pieces and rebuilding the museum so that it remains, as she put it, “a beacon for generations, connecting the past with the present, preserving the Palestinian people’s heritage while bearing witness to the occupation’s destruction of that heritage and its symbols.” 

Jewellery, swords, and stories

Suhaila Shaheen is a university professor specialising in art and technology. She holds two doctorates from Egypt, the first in education studies and the second in art education technology. 

She first began digitally documenting the museum’s collection in preparation for its virtual launch.

“I couldn’t document every piece because there are so many,” she says, “but a large number of them have been photographed, in addition to what several journalists and visitors have documented, which I am currently compiling digitally.” 

The museum once housed more than 5,600 items. Of the 340 tatreez (traditional Palestinian embroidered) thobes, only 64 were salvaged — 23 in good condition, 24 in fair condition with some tears, and the rest either torn or completely damaged. 

“The museum was packed with ancient heritage pieces, the oldest of which are three pottery items dating back to the Roman era in Palestine, a sword from the Mamluk era, and another from the Ottoman era," Suhaila says about the museum’s collection.

The museum also housed daggers, spears, and leather sword sheaths decorated with ancient stone pieces, Byzantine and Islamic coins, as well as jewellery from different eras, including necklaces, bracelets, pendants, precious stones, keys, and ancient household items.

The collection included 1,000 contemporary heritage pieces that blended authenticity with modern art, as well as wooden items such as engraved mahbash (a traditional wooden mortar and pestle used to grind coffee beans) and artistic and calligraphic murals inspired by Palestinian heritage. 

“My relationship with Palestinian dresses began more than three decades ago, when I realised that my mother, grandmother, aunts, and the women of Gaza embodied a living example of our heritage being revived before it disappears," she shares. 

"I started collecting tatreez dresses from the markets, buying them regardless of the price and preserving them despite the challenges of repeated wars, evacuations, and exposure to moisture, rodents, and other damage. Eventually, I came up with the idea of establishing the Rafah Museum to house all these acquisitions, including the embroidered dresses.” 

The Rafah Museum showcased Suhaila’s collection of rare gemstones, historic Palestinian passports from before the Israeli occupation, old Palestinian postage stamps, original and photocopied documents about ancient Palestine, a variety of Palestinian women’s head coverings, assorted baskets, and a well-preserved sieve that may be more than 150 years old. 

She says she has spent her professional life in Gaza City, but her childhood memories are of Rafah, where several members of her family were also killed. 

Suhaila designed ancient Bedouin tents and ensured they included models of Bedouin men and women in traditional clothing, along with old tools associated with their way of life, to provide a complete picture of life in Palestine through the ages. 

She recalls becoming fascinated with the details of Palestinian thobes when, during secondary school, she saw a drawing of a Palestinian Bedouin woman wearing one.

“I began asking older Palestinian women about the different types of thobes and what made each unique," Suhaila explains.

"By the time I turned 30, I was buying Palestinian dresses and old hand-embroidered pieces from markets, relatives, and neighbours. I then moved on to buying old tools, such as sickles and axes, sourced from elders and speciality shops.” 

Despite Israel's destruction and attempts to annihilate Palestine's heritage and culture, Suhaila remains steadfast in her attempts to bring the Rafah Museum back to its original glory — her determination echoing the resilience Palestinians are always known for. 

Bothaina Hamdan is a Palestinian writer living in Ramallah 

Follow her on Instagram: @bothainahamdan