A walk through the ancient streets of the West Bank City of Nablus offers a rare glimpse into the Asiatic opulence that once adorned cities across the caravan routes of the Middle East.
But what was once a major Palestinian tourist and commercial centre has since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000 wilted in the face of checkpoints and near-daily Israeli military incursions.
"They call this the economic capital of Palestine but these days it is the capital of the unemployed," says Bilal Hamouda, a merchant in the ancient quarter.
Having seen some of the uprising's fiercest battles, the Old City of Nablus has been transformed into a crude memorial to local fighters, its limestone walls covered with blast stains, militia graffiti and martyrs' posters.
Seven years on, the situation remains tense, and the Israeli military has sharply limited movement into and out of the city, leaving merchants like Hamouda with lots of time to share local lore with visitors.
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1 comment:
Oh well: Sucks for them that they made Shechem a terrorist hotbed. Nobody forced them to.
The Israeli military says its troops have discovered 10 bomb factories in Nablus this year alone, and that 117 of the 187 "potential" suicide bombers arrested in the West Bank in 2006 originated there.
They'll all starve to death before we allow them to murder again like they did before we shut them down beginning in mid-2002.
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