Pictures From Nablus

I have always had a passion for photography, even when being far from good quality cameras. This journey I borrowed a rather good digital camera from my relatives to take a few pictures from around Nablus. Some relatives have also acknowledged my talent in photography and suggest some great places to go to, to get better views of the city, such as the last photo. And as a side note, remember to pray for Gaza.

Blogging From Nablus

One year has passed since I last went to the city of Nablus, West Bank, Palestine. This morning our family set out early in the morning to the bridge between Jordan and the West Bank. At first I was reluctant to go, I didn't want to leave my holiday behind.

And my Xbox 360 games were far away from finished. But that's another post. I had originally wanted to bring the Xbox with me, but then the Israelis would think it was a Qassam rocket launch pad or something.

I had originally purposed that I could go with my father to Britain, my place of birth and country for eleven years, instead of going to Nablus once again. Dad thought the idea was ridiculous and once he started on his we-haven't-got any-money lecture for me to go as well, I knew I had no hope.

By the way, according to the Israeli's, I'm officially a suspicious person: male, fifteen and Palestinian. I got asked my age at every check point and was asked to 'wait on a chair' as my family got their papers back at the border.

Thirty minutes later I was called and my mobile phone and passport were searched and wiped with some strange brush. Did they think I was hiding something in my passport?

Also, at one of the check points, the soldier asked the taxi driver.
Soldier: Are you hiding rockets?
Driver: No!
Soldier: Don't lie! Do you have rockets?
Driver: What do I need rockets for?!
Soldier: Just joking. Off you go!

I hope to keep you posted like last year, with more pictures as well.

Coming To An End

My trip to this city, Nablus, is almost coming to an end. This week will be my last one in my holiday to this beloved city. Despite the severe cold we suffered this time, having to cover myself with five blankets each night, I must say I really enjoyed this trip.

In this city, I ate zalabyeh, met relatives, changed priorities in life, stayed in the bathroom because of all the knafeh we ate, visited soap factories, went trips around the balad, saw some old turkish bathrooms, visited long lost uncles and aunts, saw my great grandmother's new home, spoke to my one hundred year old great grandfather, ate tons of food, and a lot of other things I forgot to mention.

And here are some recent photos I took, to add to these words.

More Views From The City

At the end of this street lived my grandmother, who now lives in Amman. I am sure she would like to see this photo when I come back.



To the back of this picture you can see many blocks in an area that was mainly fields or farming land. Most apartment blocks in this city are huge, in an aim to cut down the price of a residence by building lots of apartments on the same piece of land.



In Nablus there are two ways of transport around the city, either by your own car, or by a taxi. Because the town is still relatively small, you can call a taxi office and tell him your street/house, and it'll come to you. Quite convenient, eh?



A way of getting from one city to another is by going in a taxi like this one – an orange mini bus, or sometimes a seven seated car. The only drawback is the checkpoints, with long queues and hours of waiting inside the car.



This picture shows part of a close by village called 'Til', where a lot of farmers live, and plant or harvest their olive trees.

Of Nabulsi Soap Factories

So they tell me my great grandfather from my mother's side, Adel Arafat (may Allah bless his soul), had a soap factory deep in the Old City of Nablus. And so, today we went to visit. The actual factory has stopped making the famous Nabulsi soap, but now is being converted into a museum. The aim is to restore the place into something educational that teaches about the making of traditional soap.

Part of the project was to use ancient doors from the old city, which were destroyed or broken during Israeli attacks. Local kids were given the chance to decorate the doors before being reinstalled.


This is one of the rooms in the soap factory which is being used to store some old objects that will be displayed later around the museum. This room was originally used to store soap.


Attention to detail runs throughout the project, instead of leaving the lightbulbs exposed, which would ruin the ancient effect, old claypipes were used as lampshades to cover the modernity.


Any walls or doors or staircases were restored to their old look, which has taken a long time and effort.


Some soap is still remade, for display or souvenir purposes, using the old method of making Nabulsi soap. You can also see, in this picture, the original scales used for weighing soap in huge quantities.

Zalabyeh

Nablus is famous for a special type of traditional sweet, made from cooked carrots or pumpkin in syrup (a bit like jam), wrapped in fried bread to add to the calories. Or sometimes, halaweh is added, just to increase your waistline.

Its name is Zalabyeh.

Zalabyeh is not home made, but bought from shops deep in the Old City, such as Abu-7arbi


The bread is bought from another shop, such as a shop owned by Arafat family


Roll the syrup-pumpkin in the bread, eat and don't feel guilty about the extra weight.

Side Note: This is NOT as good as knafeh. Remember that. ;)

In Words & Pictures: The Old City

One of the most significant things about the city of Nablus is its history, and the best place to take a look at it would be the Old City. No trip to Nablus is complete without a walk in the Old City, with its narrow streets and lined pavement, and the smell of fresh meat or vegetables in the air, and the shouts of sellers from their crammed shops assorted on the sides of the streets.



The Old City of Nablus is not just home to shops, but to Islamic history. There are many old mosques in the city, which many of them date back to hundreds of years. Each mosque has a stanza above its door, which was a way of telling when this mosque was built and by whom. This particular one was built in 1305 hijri, around 120 years ago.



The oldest of these mosques is named The Big Mosque, and is the biggest and oldest mosque inside the Old City. Its famous not just for its history, but for its way of making. Its walls are made from huge rocks, and held together with clay, which was later replaced by modern chemicals to keep the building together. It is also known for its circle-like mutawada2, which is found in the middle of the mosque.



A lot of tombs for major Islamic people can also be found in the Old City, and they are sometimes accompanied by mosques, such as one called The Mosque of Prophets. The actual identity of the people these tombs actually belong to is unknown, neither is their place or significance in Islam, but they are still named as Islamic Tombs.



My uncle then finished our tour around the Old City with a visit to an Islamic gathering called The Corner. This is a rather strange at first, but quite nice place for young people to gather and pray, sing nasheeds, or recite quran. This one was a home of a tomb of a supposed prophet, and also the home of three other tombs, who supposedly belong either to his three sons, or students.

A Journey To Nablus

As I said in the previous post, I am now on holiday in Nablus, Palestine (West Bank), for three weeks. In this town live all my relatives from my mums side, including my grandmother, as my grandfather passed away 3 years ago (allah yir7amo), and is also the town of my still living 100-year old great grandfather, whom I will go and visit hopefully this holiday.

In these posts, which I will be posting daily inshallah, I will include my daily actions in the city of Nablus. I will also try to include some photos, if I can. Some kind of 'live-blogging', if you want to call it that. Enjoy the first post of my visit to Nablus, the city under occupation.

Were to begin?

At seven o'clock in the early morning, the sun still barely coming out, the family was wide awake and on its way to the Jordanian bridge. The "bridge", for you that aren't familiar with it, is a building that you enter to cross between the two neighboring countries, Palestine and Jordan.

Two very close-by countries, but very far in political situations, for one is in war, and one isn't. And not just any war.

Almost five years of crossing the two countries, using this type of uncommon travel, I was used to entering the whole cliché of 'the bridge'. Everyone who has tried crossing the bridge will know how badly unorganized it is. And by saying that, I really do mean it – chaos, mayhem, disorder.

But not this time. Allah was on our side, and we had chosen a perfect timing – in between the two terms, and just before the end of Tawjihi exams. And I must warn you, never ever think about going on the bridge in the summer holidays, because it will be total mayhem. We have learnt our lesson, and now go in between the two terms, when it is calm with barely any people.

Now let's get along with things, shall we?

We went through the Jordanian bridge, got on the rickety bus, and it began to drive. Looking out of the window, I could see the Israeli flags on the gate that we were approaching, with the pale men wearing sunglasses, green clothing and guns in their hands sitting in the bunkers.

After having to take off jackets and belts, removing mobiles and purses, and handing passports and papers, I entered that weird device that sprays you with some weird chemical (maybe air, or maybe bug spray). If anyone has been in that device or knows about it, can you explain what it is, because I felt a bit queasy after it. :D

Then, we got onto even more buses, who took us to the city of Jerico, or Aree7a, as it is called. There we tried to find a taxi who would take us to Nablus, but of course, they were taxi drivers, the worst species on earth. This time we had a driver who was a mixture of a dirty pig and a cheater (refer to post), because he tried to take 10JD extra from us to go early. Maybe he thought we were 'the rich idiots' or something.

Anyway, Nablus was quite easy to get to, this time the checkpoints were simple, and the driver did a good deed for once in his life, and took us a through a longer but checkpoint free route.

And now we ended up in my grandma's house. Of course, I typed all of this onto Word before pasting into Blogger, because this house still doesn't have the luxury of ADSL. It’s a good thing my grandma has dial-up. ;)

I'll keep posting whenever I can, maybe with some photos as well. Thank you for reading, and comments are welcome.