Nablus, wounded in the war on history

Toon Lambrechts, The Electronic Intifada, 17 January 2008

"Although it is a small stretch of land, Palestine has many faces, from tiny country villages to bustling cities. Perhaps one of the most impressive places is the city of Nablus.....Situated in the north of the West Bank, Nablus is the largest city in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, inhabited by some 134,000 people. Before the second intifada, at which time Israel sealed off the town, Nablus was key to Palestine's economy.....

But first and foremost, Nablus is home to five millennia of history. The remains of the ancient Shechem a few kilometers outside the current city, with its large dry-stone walls, is a spectacular testimony of the earliest history of this area. Later the Romans came, rebuilt the city and named it Neapolis, from which the name Nablus is derived. The Byzantine period followed, succeeded by the arrival of Islam, crusader invasions and the Ottoman era, all of which left their traces on Nablus.

It may come as little surprise then that Nablus' Old City is a place of astonishing splendor. This labyrinth of cobbled streets leads from one surprising sight to another. The Old City's dense architectural fabric made out of narrow lanes and shady alleyways suggests thousands of stories.....

Nablus has seen a great deal of suffering in recent years. Being a stronghold of resistance, the city has come under severe attack by the Israeli military since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000 until this very moment. "There are still Israeli incursions during the night. Nablus remains under siege, especially the Old City,"......

The destruction of cultural heritage by Israel in Palestine and in Nablus more specifically, has gone far beyond the pretext of military necessity. "There is significant evidence that Palestinian heritage is being targeted specifically as heritage," said Naseer Arafat, a Nablus-based architectural conservationist, in an interview with The Independent (UK) in December 2002......

Some might ask, why bother about old buildings and relics? However, they are not just buildings but places where people live, work and pray. By destroying them, a people's way of life is also destroyed in the process. And attacks against cultural heritage are attempts to erase the collective memory of a people. That is why these examples are not simply collateral damage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but silent casualties in a war against history."