Talk:Nablus

From Academic Kids

A touchy topic. It seems to be handled OK, but there is some bias evident in the article.

In the latest Palestinian intifada (2000- ) the Palestinians destroyed the local Jewish holy sites (serveral times) and sent out dozens of suicide and "regular" terrorists out of Nablus into Israel. The deaths of many Israeli civilians resulted. Israel responded in March 2002 by invading the city and arresting many of its residents who were involved in terror. Israeli incursions back into Nablus and Palestinian terror attacks continue as of May 2003.

It mentions palestinian attacks, but only makes reference to Israeli arrests and incursions. I think it should also reference other military procedures conducted in Nablus, in order to maintain its neutrality. What are other people's thoughts about this? I'm reluctant to do anything, because it may bring more bias into the article. Some help here would nice. Thanks in advance! Aggelophoros 07:32, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It is dreadful. Suggest some changes but expect a fight. --Zero 08:10, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Replaced the words "terrorist" (etc.) with militant and paramilitary, since in my view use of the word "terrorist" for paramilitary groups resisting foreign occupation (lawful under Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions and various UN resolutions) is pro-Israeli bias. I did mention tht the Al-Aqsa Matyrs Brigades--as well as attacking occupying israeli soldiers--also suicide bombs Israeli civilians, attacks which are war crimes, terrorist murders by any definition and cannot be justified. KingAl86 2004-06-27 12:05 UTC

Johnjoe wants to revert

How do you revert?

The last edits by Uriber are disgusting and should be removed.

It looks to me like Uriber just restored information that was deleted by anonymous editors.

Major NPOV issues with this article

This article contains heavy POV and needs to be re-written or substantially revised. To the extent that Nablus is the site of violent conflict, NPOV requires that the reporting of events is at least somewhat in proportion to the frequency and magnitude of those events, to give a more neutral and accurate portrayal of the subject matter. As written, this article is extremely selective in what is reported (Palestinian violence against Israelis is the primary focus despite higher numbers of Palestinian deaths, injuries, home demolitions, etc. as a result of Israeli actions), there are glaring omissions (Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinian civilians is generally ignored), Nablus and its 300,000 residents are collectively characterized with negative generalizations, and pejorative terms about Nablus, its residents, and Palestinians in general, are woven throughout the discussion.

Well, additional information would be helpful. It's best to put information from both POVs in, rather than just having one, or deleting one and putting in another. Jayjg | (Talk) 22:19, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

An anon keeps editing the article and I keep reverting because he or she is deleting half the content. But at the same time, he or she does seem to be making an effort to NPOV the content, so I don't know. Everyking 12:28, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)

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Nablus is the site of An-Najah National University. the largest Palestinian university. There are three large Arab settlements just outside the city, which were built for the Palestinian refugees of 1948, who have never been integrated into Palestinian life. These settlements are Ein Beit el Ma, Balatah and Asquar Al Quadim and Askar Al Jadid. They have more than 30,000 inhabitants.

well , refugee camps --> Arab settlements , is this a make up for "refugee camp"? and what is ment by "never been integrated into palestinian life"? --Mayz 22:28, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

With the Arab conquest in 636, the city was renamed as rendered in Arabic Nablus

Arab conquest VS Islamic conquest , it should be called islamic conquest since the kingdom or khalifa thing or what ever u want to call was called the whatever islamic thing , not the whatever arabic thing nor the whatever arab islamic thing .--Mayz 22:40, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Inaccuracies

I do not feel like going into the question of the general line of that article, here are a few inaccuracies that should be corrected: - the population: it is estimated way too high; Nablus and the refugee camps contiguous to it number something like 120 000 inhabitants, and even though the district is dense, it has something like 200 000 inhabitants or so. - the Tomb of Joseph (Qabr Yusuf) was a muslim oratory prior to its partial destruction in october 2000. The identity of the Joseph buried there was disputed, but prior to 1980 it was a Muslim tomb, of a 14th century Muslim saint it was said. The people of Nablus dispute the notion that it should have been the tomb of Joseph brought back from Egypt (either because the Tomb of Joseph was supposed to be in a shrine of the Haram Ibrahimi - Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, or alternatively because unearthing a man of such power and removing him from Egypt after his death would have been disrespectful). The authenticity of that holy place was very much doubted by some travelers of all persuasions; however, the location of the tomb roughly corresponds to the location of the Tomb of Joseph on Madaba's table. Come what may, it was at a time a Byzantine and later a Muslim holy site. The motives for its destruction do not lie in its religious affiliation per se. Troubles began with the frictions between refugees from Balata camp nearby and settlers who came to the vicinity Nablus in 1979, claimed Qabr Yusuf as an exclusively Jewish holy site in 1980, and had the place guarded by the Israeli army. Especially, during the Oslo process, the Tomb of Joseph justified maintained Israeli presence within this one area of the city of Nablus, and the existence of a corridor road leading to it. The visits of armed settlers fuelled the anger of Palestinian inhabitants, and so it was hardly surprising that it should have become the site of many clashes at the beginning of the second Intifada. The withdrawal of Israeli troops and the storming of the site by Palestinian youths ensued. Yet as soon as the tomb had been looted and its roof destroyed, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would pay to have it restaured, which it did. Indeed, after the reoccupation of Nablus by the Israeli Defense Force in 2002, it was decided in 2003 to allow settlers back to the Tomb of Joseph, which was made possible by the proper state of repair of the site. - Ghassan Shakaa may have given himself airs of being some kind of Godfather (twelve bodyguards used to accompany him in nearly all public occasions) but to the best of my knowledge, neither him nor Abu Jihad Al-Aloul went down so low as to keep a band of their own: which would have been seen as exceedingly disrespectable among the social elites of Nablus. This does not mean that they had no contact with gang leaders, but the commanding of armed factions is not a proper way to describe their power. Important missing items are: - Nablus soap as a commodity and a speciality; - hamams as a traditional place of sociability - Nablus' hamams are renouned all through the Palestinian territories and Jordan; - Nablus as the city of the Samaritans: they used to live in the Kasbah before the Israeli Defense Force asked them to leave and to settle on top of Mount Jerizim in 1987; they are still very much integrated in Nablus' society, and some still resent their moving away from the city. Zayezzift 15:23, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)