GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Zuheir Abdul Rahim Daana comes from a long line of Palestinian artisans who make leather clothes and household goods. Now in his 60s, Daana learned the trade from his father, Abdul Rahim, at the age of nine, in the same shop that carries the family name on Old Jerusalem’s Al-Wad Street.
When Daana was a child, his father used to tend the shop and his uncle Zakaria shipped the leather products — mainly shoes, bags and belts — to Jordan, Turkey and Syria. Daana’s grandfather, Wajdi Mohammad Jomaa Daana, started producing and selling leather products in the second half of the 19th century. The Palestinian artisan and tradesman used to send the products to Syria, Lebanon and Turkey and often boasted that he designed the shoes of Ottoman sultans.
