Where is nablus

Posters picturing martyrs, those who have died in the struggle against Israel, hang regularly on street corners alongside the Palestinian flag. This city conjures up a vivid picture of the heart of Palestine. The beating heart of Nablus and the best place to start any trip to the city is the mesmerising Old City, with the Al Qasaba Casbah. The labyrinthine market is brimming with spice stalls, piles of fresh fruit and vegetables, pastry stands, clothes racks, jewellery and a whole lot more, while there is not a single tour group in sight.

Several leather tanneries, potteries and textile workshops also line the narrow, winding and chaotic streets. It is also the perfect place to sample the local delicacy, kunafeh. This group of Samaritans living on the slope is apparently the oldest and smallest religious sect in the entire world, believing themselves to be nd generation descendants of Joseph. It is also their belief that Moses ordered them to protect the mountain, and that it is the place where Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac.

In the mids, in Nablus, Anera delivered a job-creation training workshops in a number of villages for rural women on the fine art of sewing. The women prepared local exhibitions in their villages after the completion of the training where they were able to sell some of their products. The centers continue to give sewing training to new women each year conducted by members of the local communities. The cisterns were located in agricultural lands, youth centers and schools, benefiting farmers and students alike.

Anera rehabilitated a water spring in Qaryut to benefit all villagers. Residents of these communities now can rely on clean, consistent supplies of water piped into their homes. For many families, they no longer have to pay for expensive deliveries of water from tankers. Each water project has generated hundreds of job opportunities for the people of these villages that directly benefited them and their families.

Before Anera's intervention, the water pressure was very poor and many residents lived in areas that were situated above the existing reservoir. They had to rely completely on expensive water of dubious quality that was tankered in. A later phase of the same program would help build factories, industrial zones and markets across the West Bank in the s.

School facilities across Palestine suffer from deteriorated classrooms and facilities. The Ministry of Education does not have sufficient funds to fully maintain or develop safe, engaging and healthy educational facilities. Anera steps in where it can to fill the gaps. Jerzim and Jalud , and Kifl Haris , Anera built and renovated classrooms, recreational facilities and sanitation systems. The governmental preschool was one of only two public preschools in the entire West Bank.

Anera transformed both preschools with soft-colored walls and curtains, upgraded playgrounds, new child-friendly furniture and carpeting, educational materials and toys, and a selection of story books and art materials. We also renovated bathrooms, making them child-accessible and easy to use. A teacher at the Askar Refugee Camp preschool describes the transformation.

Each preschools accommodates a minimum of 75 children. With funds from an individual donor, Anera established the first governmental kindergarten in the vulnerable village of Madama , south of Nablus city. Again, this school was built to a high standard and currently offers over 50 children a preschool education. Anera has taught dozens of Nablus-area preschool teachers an educational approach that rests on the fundamentals of early childhood care and education including child development, child rights, learning theories, safety, classroom organization, expressive arts, play and much more.

The Family Planning Center, Nablus Red Crescent and the Al-Itihad Hospital, for instance, are able to make medicines available to disadvantaged patients free of charge or for a nominal fee. This means that families, hospitals and clinics can use whatever limited resources they have to fill other important needs.

In the mids, Anera delivered a mother-child health program throughout Nablus and the West Bank that improved the availability of health services and provided counseling for Palestinian women of reproductive age as well as upgraded infant care and child nutrition. Nablus has a particularly high concentration of open anti-Israeli sentiments for a major West Bank city; you can see many memorials to Palestinians killed during Israeli attacks in the old city, and the Israeli Defense Force IDF and Palestinian militants occasionally clash in some parts of greater Nablus such as the refugee camps.

There are many damaged buildings and debris-filled fields around Nablus, the result of past Israeli aerial bombing, but the residents of Nablus have been working hard on repairing their city and there's less and less visible damage every day. Israeli restrictions on the city are generally looser than they used to be, and a visit to Nablus in the daytime is a safe and worthwhile trip.

As of July there were no checkpoints for buses and service taxis aka servees entering Nablus from other West Bank cities, although you will need your passport and visa stamp to enter back into Israeli territory upon your return. Ramallah and Jerusalem : From Jerusalem , take the 18 bus to Ramallah. This bus will drop passengers off at the main street in Ramallah, but stay on until the main bus station.

From Ben Gurion it is cheapest to take a "sherut" shared taxi to the bus station on Nablus Road by Damascus Gate, and then follow the directions above to Nablus.

Most of the urban area of Nablus is small enough to be navigated on foot. It is not recommend that you wander around too much as there are a number of neighborhoods in Nablus that may have troubles with IDF raids and public unrest.

However, the tensions have eased, but you should still check for the latest situation. The public transportation in Nablus is informal, and is normally done by sharing service taxis aka servees.

The black-and-yellow taxis sometimes with a Hebrew "Monit" sign on top will take you anywhere in Nablus, and it's easy to find people to share the taxi with for many locations. Close-by popular sights of the West Bank read here are Sebastia Archaeological Park conveniently located if you go north towards Jenin , Awarta village , Kifl Hares and Aqabah with the twin minaret.

Nablus residents boast that Kunafa Nablusy is the best in Palestine, and no trip to Nablus is complete without it. You can get other sweets from Nablus as well, ha-lawa baklava and zalabya sweet fried pastry are very delicious.