Under occupation, Palestinians still innovate: Palestinian crafts hope to enter Guinness Record

Wafa- Three Palestinian women in the villages of Silwad and al-Mogayer, near Ramallah, have worked for two years on a project to build the biggest straw tray ever made, in an attempt to enter the Guinness World Records.

Rose Hamed, the originator of the idea and manager of the project, said the tray is the biggest in Palestinian history with a width close to five meters. The three women spent all last year and two months of this year working on the piece, despite financial difficulties they encountered.

The women have hopes that the tray will be publicly displayed in a presentation at the PA headquarters in Ramallah, where it would be sold and the money donated to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Hamed described the experience of making the tray as 'an exciting one' and hopes that this kind of work would find community support, due to its important role in preserving Palestinian culture and heritage.

Several Palestinian efforts were made to enter the Guinness records in the last two years, starting with the biggest plate of ‘tabbouleh’ (a Middle Eastern salad) in Ramallah, the biggest pan of ‘Kunafa’ (famous Palestinian desert) in Nablus, the biggest plate of ‘musakhan’ (Palestinian dish made of roasted chicken with sumac and Arabic bread) in Arorra village, the biggest Palestinian dress in Hebron and the widest canvas painting by Palestinian painter Jamal Badwan. None of these have yet succeeded; it remains to be seen whether the straw tray will enter the records.