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nablus (dest)
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NablusNablus also (rarely) spelled Nabulus (Arabic نابلس; Hebrew שכם, Shechem) is a major city (pop. 300,000) in the West Bank, about 63 kilometers north of Jerusalem. Its residents are mainly Arab Palestinians. Nearby are the locations of several holy sites of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It was founded in CE 72 as a Roman city named Flavia Neapolis ("New city of the imperator Flavius"), about 2 kilometers east of the site of the Biblical city of Shechem. With the Arab conquest in 636, the city was renamed as rendered in Arabic Nablus, which the Crusaders rechristened "Naples" (The name of the Italian Naples also comes from an earlier Neapolis.) With its fortified citadel, it was a major center of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, until the older city of Nablus was obliterated in 1202 and rebuilt once again as an Arab city upon its ruins. An earthquake in 1927 damaged many of the city's buildings, which were rebuilt but lost their previous picturesque character. The city is partially electrified and many of its narrow public lanes are paved. Many of the former traditional houses are now used as warehouses, as people have moved to housing with modern amenities on the outskirts. Nablus is the site of An-Najah National University, the largest Palestinian university. There are three refugee camps just outside the city, which were built for the Palestinian refugees of 1948. These camps are Ein Beit el Ma, Balatah and Asquar Al Quadim and Askar Al Jadid. Together they have more than 30,000 inhabitants. Nablus is famous for the architecture of its market, the Kasbah, and also for the culinary specialty of knafeh, a pastry dessert drenched in syrup and served cut into square slices fresh from the oven. The city has very high unemployment rates as a result to the israeili closure regime, and the unemployment raised from 14.2% in 1997 to n estimate of 60% in 2004, and its being estimated that the unemployment in the old city and in the refugee camps is as high as 80%http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/OCHA_Body-ASP_Files/Coordination_Sec/OCHA-oPt_FCU_BIOs_PDFs/OCHA-oPt_Nablus-FCU_Bio_Data-22Nov04.pdf. In the latest Palestinian intifada (2000- ) the Palestinians destroyed the Jewish holy site The Tomb of Joseph and have laid foundations for a mosque to occupy the site. Nearby is a well associated with Jacobs well, now found inside a Greek Orthodox monastery. This is supposedly the well at which Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. Nablus is more famous in modern times for its dozens of suicide and "regular" terrorists sent out of Nablus into Israel. The deaths of many Israeli civilians have resulted. Israel responded in March 2002 by invading the city and capturing many suspected terrorists and supporters. Palestinian militancy and Israeli defensive operations into Nablus continue as of May 2003. Since late July 2003, Nablus has been torn apart by armed gang war, waged by Palestinian militias, local bandits, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, (a paramilitary organization linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah, which regurlary attacks Israel, and carries out suicide bombings of Israeli civilians). Arafat appointed a mayor, Ghassan Shakaa, and a governor, Mahmoud Aloul, who are each at the head of armed factions. That armed war led to chaos and anarchy on the streets of Nablus. Following the assassination of his brother by the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, Nablus' mayor, Ghassan Shakaa, published an open letter via the press - in which he calls for the Palestinian Authority to restore order in the torn city. Taysir Naserallah, a leading representative of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in Nablus, said that the repeated Israeli military presence in the city, compounded by months of curfews and economic collapse, had brought about the chaos. In February 2004 Shakaa filed his resignation from office, after the Palestinian Authority did nothing to stop the armed militias of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades from rampaging the city and attacking its residents. Shaaka avoided directly blaming Arafat, but hinted that the PA is the one to blame in the chaos and anarchy ravaging the city of Nablus. In his resignation letter he wrote: - "I see my city collapsing and I don't want to stand idly by and watch this collapse," Shakaa said. "My resignation is a warning bell to the Palestinian Authority and the residents of Nablus, because both of them are doing nothing for this city." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_2
The city's unemployment rate rose from 14.2% in 1997 to an estimated 60% in 2004, mostly as a result of the Israeli closure regime, and was estimated to be as high as 80% in the old city and in the refugee camps.http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/OCHA_Body-ASP_Files/Coordination_Sec/OCHA-oPt_FCU_BIOs_PDFs/OCHA-oPt_Nablus-FCU_Bio_Data-22Nov04.pdf. Recently, Nablus gained a negative reputation following a wave of child suicide bombers originated in Nablus. Hussam Abdo and Abdullah Quran were the most famous, after being caught in IDF's Hawara checkpoint outside the city. A cell of Tanzim activists (which included teenagers) who sent the childern for suicide bombing missions was arrested by IDF forces. On June 25 IDF forces killed three top terrorists in Nablus, including the heads of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Thousands participated in their funerals. http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&xCache=%7Bts%20%272004%2D07%2D15%2023%3A13%3A25%27%7D&articleID=9088 External links
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