He started training with his father when he was a child. By the time he was 20, he was already an experienced sword-maker. He looked at it as the family business and source of livelihood, refusing other jobs. His clients come from across Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip all the way to Rafah in the south, and also from the West Bank.

“Sword making is my life. Our workshop is the most famous and the oldest in the entire Zeitoun district since 1957. I inherited it from my father, who in turn inherited it from his grandfather. My great grandfather’s wish was that all his grandchildren and descendants learn and preserve this profession through the generations,” Abu Wadi told Al-Monitor.

Moeen Abu Wadi, 48, is the only sword-maker in the Gaza Strip, known among people as “the sword-maker of Gaza.” His workshop sports ancient swords, some of which are more than 300 years old, and Arab daggers hanging on the walls.

The family’s small workshop is furnished the same as when it first opened 60 years ago. Sword making has been the family business for hundreds of years, including during the years its members lived in the city of Beersheba and after their migration following the Nakba , or the "catastrophe," the forced removal of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel in 1947-49.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In southeast Gaza City, in the Zeitoun district , the Abu Wadi family maintains its tradition of sword making, although their customers are getting fewer.

Abu Wadi said sword making was a method to preserve the family’s Bedouin culture. Bedouins, he said, valued the sword and the dagger, which Palestinian nomadic tribes who roamed the valleys and the desert carried to defend themselves against road thieves or wild animals.

Abu Wadi said that the first thing to do when making a sword is to heat a bar of iron in a forge and then repeatedly hammer it into shape. Then he anneals and grinds the blade, and, as a last step, adds the hilt and copper guard. Finally, the sheath, which is often plated with copper, is added.

Abu Wadi takes a full week to make a sword, working four to six hours a day. He makes different types of swords; the most sought after in the Gaza Strip are the “Hinya” and the “Shiqqa,” which differ in shape and the type of metal used. He also makes Damascene swords for one of his customers, who gives them as gifts to his relatives in Arab countries. Some customers in the West Bank also ask him to make Ottoman Yatagan swords. “I make dozens of Arab and Ottoman swords that get sold as gifts or sent abroad,” he said.

His regular customers are local mayors and Gaza dignitaries, Palestinian parade groups, and the Dabke and Bedouin dance groups, who use swords and daggers in their parades and shows.

For Abu Wadi, part of the challenge is finding materials. Sometimes he gets iron from the chassis of old cars in the Gaza industrial area of Asqoula. He then forges this to make swords, a process that takes longer than having a ready-made bar of iron. Making the sheath can be also tricky in light of the Israeli blockade on Gaza and the lack of metal and other materials. Abu Wadi usually replaces copper with other materials to make the sheath.

He said the prices of his swords range from $150 to $500.

Abu Wadi loves his profession and is keen to pass it on to his 11-year-old son Majid, who already knows the basic methods of making historical swords. Majid is expected to take on the job, keeping the workshop working for years to come.

“Our Bedouin culture in Palestine dictates that we preserve our heritage and pass it on to our children. I do not mind my son working in another profession as long as he keeps making swords using the Palestinian Bedouin authentic method,” Abu Wadi said.

Palestinian historian and retired history teacher Saeed al-Khalidi said that the ancient city of Gaza used to have several sword-makers, especially in the areas located near the historic Sayyid Hashim mosque and the Shajaiya district, where ancient swords dating back to the 12th century Ayyubid rule and Roman civilization were found.

“Gaza is an ancient historical city, which was attacked by several invaders. During Ottoman and Roman rule, Gaza was the city where armies would prepare their equipment, and served as a passage for invader after invader from and to Asia and Africa,” Khalidi told Al-Monitor. He added that in those battles, most of the warriors used Yemeni swords.