Palestinian thobe

The Palestinian thobe (Arabic: ثوبة, romanized: thawba; Palestinian Arabic: ثوبة or توبة, romanized: tōbe) is the traditional Palestinian woman's long tunic. It is considered Palestinian women's national dress.^[1] It is embroidered with tatreez patterns, with different colours and patterns signifying various aspects of the wearer's social position and most importantly its unique village, town or city.^[2] The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit has curated a collection of thobes as an example of Palestinian material heritage.^[3]

Palestinian singer pictured wearing a thobe

History

Woman from Ramallah, c. 1898–1914

The Al Qarara Cultural Museum in the Gaza Strip, which held a collection of these garments, was destroyed in an explosion as a result of an Israeli attack in October 2023, part of an offensive that reportedly deliberately targeted civilian homes and mosques in the vicinity.^[4][5]

Cultural significance

Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan and the first Palestinian-American woman elected to that body, wore a thobe to her swearing-in ceremony on January 3, 2019.^[6] This inspired a number of Palestinian and Palestinian-American women to share pictures on social media with the hashtag #TweetYourThobe.^[7] Like the ghutra, thobes were also popular during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.^[8]