WEST BANK: Man keeps the tradition of hand-made brooms alive

Record ID: 561019

  • Title: WEST BANK: Man keeps the tradition of hand-made brooms alive
  • Date: 26th October 2009
  • Summary: AL ZABABIDA VILLAGE, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AL ZABABIDA VILLAGE NEAR JENIN IN WEST BANK VARIOUS OF TRADITIONAL HAND-MADE BROOM MAKER FADIL ARARAWI GATHERING STRAWS TOGETHER TO MAKE BROOM CLOSE OF ARARAWI HANDLING STRAWS / USING HIS FEET TO HOLD TOOL TO TIGHTEN STRAWS TOGETHER ARARAWI TYING STRAWS TOGETHER ARARAWI'S FACE WHILE MAKING BROOMS VARIOUS OF ARARAWI USING PLIERS TO TWIST WIRE AROUND BOUND STRAW TO HOLD BROOM TOGETHER ARARAWI USING KNIFE TO CUT-OFF TOP OF STRAWS TO SHAPE BROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRADITIONAL HAND-MADE BROOM MAKER, FADIL ARARAWI, SAYING: "I manufacture brooms, which I learned to make from someone, and this helps me earn a living. I have been doing this for 40 years." ARARAWI'S SON OSAMA ARARAWI CARRYING UNFINISHED HANDMADE BROOMS / PLACING ON GROUND NEXT TO HIS FATHER ARARAWI MAKING BROOMS OSAMA ARARAWI USING HAMMER TO SHAPE BROOMS OSAMA ARARAWI PREPARING NEEDLE AND THREAD VARIOUS OF OSAMA ARARAWI SEWING THREAD AROUND BROOM TO TIGHTEN IT VARIOUS OF OSAMA ARARAWI AND HIS FATHER MAKING BROOMS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRADITIONAL HAND-MADE BROOM MAKER, OSAMA ARARAWI, SAYING: "There is demand for the brooms we make because electric vacuum cleaners can be used inside the house but there are many homes that have a courtyard, so they can't use the electric vacuum cleaner in the courtyard. Therefore, the hand made broom is used to clean outside the house." ARARAWI CARRYING BROOMS TO SELL AT LOCAL SHOP / PLACING BROOMS INSIDE SHOP ARARAWI GIVING BROOMS TO SHOP WORKER ARARAWI'S HAND-MADE BROOMS ON DISPLAY INSIDE LOCAL SHOP
  • Embargoed: 10th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ODVD8YQJLJITC318PQRT969K
  • Story Text: Seventy-year-old Fadil Ararawi has kept the tradition of hand-made brooms alive in his village of al Zababida near Jenin in the West Bank.
    For the last 40-years he has been producing hand-crafted brooms made from straw and selling them in local shops.
    The courtyard outside his home has become the workshop area where Ararawi measures, binds and cuts bunches of straw into groupings of the same length to produce his hand-made brooms.
    Ararawi and his son Osama, 35, produce around 50 brooms a day.
    "I manufacture brooms, which I learned to make from someone, and this helps me earn a living. I have been doing this for 40 years," said Ararawi.
    Ararawi's sales have declined in recent years after Israel imposed stringent restrictions on Palestinian movement and started building a barrier in parts of the West Bank.
    Israel has maintained that the barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls that encroach on West Bank territories, is meant to keep suicide bombers out of its neighbourhoods.
    But Palestinians call the barrier a disguised move to annex territory Palestinians seek as a viable state.
    Ararawi said his production decreased from 100 brooms per day to 50 because he stopped delivering to other West Bank cities due to high travel costs and difficulty in moving through Israeli checkpoints to reach other West bank cities.
    His son, a teacher in a public school, says while business has shrunk there is still a need for their hand-made brooms in Palestinian homes.
    "There is demand for the brooms we make because electric vacuum cleaners can be used inside the house but there are many homes that have a courtyard, so they can't use the electric vacuum cleaner in the courtyard. Therefore, the hand made broom is used to clean outside the house," said Osama Ararawi.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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