35 Facts About Nablus

Nablus is under the administration of the Palestinian National Authority as part of Area A of the West Bank.

Under the Ottoman Turks, who conquered the city in 1517, Nablus served as the administrative and commercial centre for the surrounding area corresponding to the modern-day northern West Bank.

Coins found in Nablus dating to this period depict Roman military emblems and gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon such as Zeus, Artemis, Serapis, and Asklepios.

Nablus forbade the Samaritans to travel to the mountain to celebrate their religious ceremonies, and expropriated their synagogue there.

Under Muslim rule, Nablus contained a diverse population of Arabs and Persians, Muslims, Samaritans, Christians and Jews.

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Nablus became part of the royal domain of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1137, Arab and Turkish troops stationed in Damascus raided Nablus, killing many Christians and burning down the city's churches.

Crusaders began building Christian institutions in Nablus, including a church dedicated to the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, and in 1170 they erected a hospice for pilgrims.

Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, wrote that Ayyubid Nablus was a "celebrated city in Filastin (Palestine).

Under Mamluk rule, Nablus possessed running water, many Turkish baths and exported olive oil and soap to Egypt, Syria, the Hejaz, several Mediterranean islands, and the Arabian Desert.

Nablus came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, along with the whole of Palestine.

Sanjaq Nablus was further subdivided into five nahiya, in addition to the city itself.

Nablus was only one among a number of local centers of power within Jabal Nablus, and its relations with the surrounding villages, such as Beita and Aqraba, were partially mediated by the rural-based chiefs of the nahiya.

The Ottomans, fearing that the new Arab land holders would establish independent bases of power, dispersed the land plots to separate and distant locations within Jabal Nablus to avoid creating contiguous territory controlled by individual clans.

In May 1834, Qasim al-Ahmad—the chief of the Jamma'in nahiya—rallied the rural sheikhs and fellahin of Jabal Nablus and launched a revolt against Governor Ibrahim Pasha, in protest at conscription orders, among other new policies.

Olive oil was the primary product of Nablus and aided other related industries such as soap-making and basket weaving.

Jabal Nablus enjoyed a greater degree of autonomy than other sanjaqs under Ottoman control, probably because the city was the capital of a hilly region, in which there were no "foreigners" who held any military or bureaucratic posts.

Thus, Nablus remained outside the direct "supervision" of the Ottoman government, according to historian Beshara Doumani.

Between 19 September and 25 September 1918, in the last months of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War the Battle of Nablus took place, together with the Battle of Sharon during the set piece Battle of Megiddo.

Nablus is surrounded by Israeli settlements and was site of regular clashes with the Israel Defense Forces during the First Intifada when the local prison was known for torture.

Nablus produced more suicide bombers than any other city during the Second Intifada.

Nablus's death was branded by the UN and Palestinian factions as a part of “extrajudicial executions.

In 891 CE, during the early centuries of Islamic rule, Nablus had a religiously diverse population of Samaritans, local Muslims and Christians.

Much of the local Palestinian Muslim population of Nablus is believed to be descended from Samaritans who converted to Islam.

Nablus exported three-fourths of its soap — the city's most important commodity—to Cairo by caravan through Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, and by sea through the ports of Jaffa and Gaza.

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From Egypt, and particularly from Cairo and Damietta, Nablus merchants imported mainly rice, sugar, and spices, as well as linen, cotton, and wool textiles.

Nablus has a bustling modern commercial center with restaurants, and a shopping mall.

The Nablus business developed from an ice-factory set up by Mohammad Anabtawi in the town centre in 1950.

Nablus is home to the Palestine Securities Exchange and the al-Quds Financial Index, housed in the al-Qasr building in the Rafidia suburb of the city.

Nablus is home to an-Najah National University, the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank.

Nablus costume was of a distinctive style that employed colorful combinations of various fabrics.

Nablus is one of the Palestinian cities that sustained elite classes, fostering the development of a culture of "high cuisine", such as that of Damascus or Baghdad.

Nabulsi soap or sabon nabulsi is a type of castile soap produced only in Nablus and made of three primary ingredients: virgin olive oil, water, and a sodium compound.

On July 2, 1980, Bassam Shakaa, then mayor of Nablus, lost both of his legs as a result of a car bombing carried out by Israeli militants affiliated with the Gush Emunim Underground movement.

Nablus is one of the few cities in the West Bank to have a fire department, which was founded in 1958.