Celebrating Nazareth Heritage week in the mostly Arab city of Nazareth, Israel, Palestinian models displayed traditional Palestinian dresses to pay tribute to Palestinian heritage.
Maha Saca, head of the Palestinian Heritage Centre, said the garments featured in the show are the traditional dresses of cities in the West Bank and cities which are now in Israel but used to be in Mandate Palestine before the establishment of Israel in 1948.
''These dresses represent Palestinian cities and ... Read more

Celebrating Nazareth Heritage week in the mostly Arab city of Nazareth, Israel, Palestinian models displayed traditional Palestinian dresses to pay tribute to Palestinian heritage.
Maha Saca, head of the Palestinian Heritage Centre, said the garments featured in the show are the traditional dresses of cities in the West Bank and cities which are now in Israel but used to be in Mandate Palestine before the establishment of Israel in 1948.
''These dresses represent Palestinian cities and villages because each dress is proof of our identity in every city and village. At the end of this show, we will have a Palestinian (traditional) wedding, which will complete this show of traditional Palestinian dresses,'' Saca told Reuters Television.
The fashion show took place at the Nazareth Baptist school.
Inas Rizek is one of 12 young women who participated in the show.
''I am proud to be wearing this dress, the dress of my grandmother and women in the old days. This dress shows our Palestinian identity, our Arab-Palestinian identity. The designs on this dress are very distinctive and show it took a lot of work,'' said Rizek.
Saca, who has one of the largest collections of traditional Palestinian embroidery, said the show is important because it helps keeps Palestinian heritage alive. She said she hopes it will give the audience a sense of appreciation for the diversity and uniqueness of Palestinian folklore.
''Palestinian dresses breath new life into Palestinian identity because our heritage is starting to disappear, so we are trying to remind (people) of the beauty of our Palestinian heritage so that it continues to live in (people's) mind and so that every Palestinian will appreciate Palestinian (traditional) dresses, each of which represents a Palestinian city or village.
Our Palestinian costumes are very rare pieces. The age of these dresses is more than 100 years. It shows the precision and beauty of our Palestinian heritage,'' Saca said.
Dresses featured in the fashion show represent a rich variety of handcrafted and embroidered garments. Traditionally, each region derived its designs from the nature of its surroundings, which influenced the fabric selection, colours, designs and embroidery of the garment.
''(This show is unique) because we are not familiar where each type of Palestinian dress comes from. Each area is unique for a particular dress. The embroidery is distinctive, I mean the designs are different and the amount of embroidery is different in each dress, depending on the area it comes from, because the dresses are inspired by nature. So, each area has a corresponding design which identifies each dress according to the area it represents,'' organizer Kati Marjia said.
Traditional Palestinian costumes date back to ancient times and they typically reflect a woman's economic status, marital status and her city or village of origin. Following the creation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, regional variations in costumes began to slowly disappear. Close