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The latest and greatest from Nablus

The city of Nablus, pictured in 2014 (Basel Quzeih/Wikimedia)

The city of Nablus, pictured in 2014 (Basel Quzeih/Wikimedia)

On December 13, Boulder City Council voted to make the West Bank city of Nablus one of its Sister Cities.

Advocates for this relationship have been working on this for years — we’ve been reporting on it since 2013. Previous efforts had failed due to strong opposition, which says that Nablus is a contentious place that glorifies suicide bombings and is strongly anti-Israel and anti peace.

A little over a week later, on Dec. 22, the following news item landed in our inbox: “Security services bust Hamas cell in Nablus.” The article, by Andrew Friedman of TPS, reported that the terror ring “was planning to carry out suicide bombings in Israel,” and that “most of the arrestees have served jail time in the past for security offenses.”

Further: “From May to August 2016, the cell operated a workshop in Nablus and produced about seven kilograms of TATP explosive material, from which they made bombs that were intended for use on suicide operations in Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as at bus stops. The group also purchased M16 rifles.”

Accompanying the article was a picture of a cache of knives the IDF found.

The security services that busted this ring was Israeli, not Palestinian. Where was the city of Nablus, administered by Palestinians?

This week another Nablus-related item landed in our inbox. “Kids jump for Jihad at European-funded dance competition,” reported by PMW. Yafa Cultural Center in Nablus hosted the competition. A second Nablus-related item also came in, again from TPS, about three Palestinian suspects arrested for carrying a pipe bomb, Molotov cocktails and knives at the entrance to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus (a place that turns into a flashpoint whenever the conflict heats up).

To be sure, there are feel-good Nablus stories, too, like the one we ran about Jasmine, a café that aims to “put women first.” It should be noted, however, that the same article describes some of the issues in Nablus, including the “lawlessness.”

Perhaps Boulder City Council should see the latest and greatest from Nablus?

If you know of other recent incidents in Nablus, please post in a comment.

 

 


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