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A borrowed copy of Lonely Planet says that the Arabic name Nablus comes from the Latin Neopolis or "New City" which was the name Romans gave the city they rebuilt at the site of the historical city of Shechem. Nablus is a somewhat feared name in Israel as a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism and is known inside of Palestine for being more traditional (less westernized) and most importantly for kenafa (a cheese dessert) as well as olive soap. People in Nablus are friendly and seem curious about the local American teachers. Everyone greets us with "Welcome!" everywhere in town. Getting by without any Arabic has not been difficult here. The few locals I've come across without any English quickly find someone who speaks English to help or readily use gestures and write out numbers to fascilitate communication.
Nablus is in the area of Northern Palestine that was known as Samaria in biblical times (and presently by fanatical Zionists) which is a reference to the Samaritan community that comes from here. In fact, there is still a small Samaritan village outside of town. One of the American teachers took a trip there this spring and I am hoping to make a
trip there before my time in Nablus is over. Standing on the street in front of the house we are living in you can actually see the first few buildings of the village in a dip between with mountains. They could be reached easily on foot by walking across town and up the hills on the other side if it were not for the barrier encircling Nablus and the Israeli settlements dotting the surrounding hills (to stumble into one of these settlements could be extremely dangerous for locals. The armed guard to settler ratio in the outpost settlements is said to be something like 4:1 making them extremely subsidized- and armed- communities.) So, I've been told, in order to reach the Samaritan village from Nablus you must first exit through one of the checkpoints and go around the hills and up with other side. Settlers have specified Israeli-only roads that connect their colonies in the West Bank and further isolate Palestinian communities from one another by breaking up the land. Between the checkpoints, Israeli settlements and Israeli-use roads in the West Bank Palestinians sometimes joke that they want only one state but Israel is so generous that it gave them
200.
The school is renting a second house for summer teachers in addition to the apartment is rents for school year teachers. Both of the accommodations are fantastic by any standards. The only down side is that we are doubling and tripling up in the rooms for the summer because of the large number of teachers coming. The house we are living in is in one of the wealthiest areas of town. We are supposed to be a few doors down from the 3rd richest man in Palestine (I am not sure who calculated that). The house was reluctantly rented to the school by the daughter of the previous residents who moved to Kuwait a couple of years ago leaving the house to acquire a thick layer of dust on top of the odds and ends they left strewn about the place. So it is comfortable albeit neglected. We are all pitching in to weed that garden, launder the sheets, clean out the cabinets and dust off the furniture. Like all of the buildings here, it is made of limestone and somehow stays cool under the blazing sun without air conditioning. And we get something like 350 TV channels.
I've learned that I like Dubai One. I doubt I'll get around to watching all the stations.
Unfortunately, there is no recycling program or even garbage pickup so taking the garbage out means putting the trash into a dumpster where, after the cats play around with it for a while, it is burned. There are often fires around town and I am never sure whether it's trash or if something else is burning. Israeli jets fly low overhead several times a day and repeatedly in the evening. I was told that this week before I came they dropped flares as a practice for bombing the city. I tried imagining what it would be like to be from a city that I was forbidden to leave and which was being encircled by an ever increasing population of occupying forces that rehearsed aerial bombings. It's hard to imagine. But despite the occupation, the city residents maintain their daily routines and the aura is one of surprising normalcy and domesticity. There are many mosques and the ancient alleys of the Old City shelter a vibrant market with a wide variety of foods, herbs and teas. Shwarma restaurants, kitchen supply shops and barbers
line the streets.
More pics from Israel
More to come soon from Palestine
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Yoel Ibin-Ibrahim
non-member comment
I'm pleased to read of your pleasant and meaningful trip to Schem. It is unfortunate that instead of looking for truth you settled for half lies and distortions. For instance: in the entire block of communities near Shilo, with over 1,200 families, there are probably fewer than 50 soldiers, and these to patrol the roads, not guard the so-called settlements. Secondly, with one or two rare exceptions, you will be hard put to find inter-city roads off-limits to non-Jews. The opposite is true. Every road Jews travel on are full of Arab traffic. Jews however, would mostly likely forfeit their lives if they mistakenly drove down an "Arab" road. Next time you are in the area, come visit the "other side" and learn that in the Middle East, if you believe it, it must be true, regardless of the facts.