Word: nablus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Inside the occupied territories, Arab shopkeepers in the town of Nablus closed their stores in symbolic mourning of the 21st anniversary of Israel's founding.-But the fedayeen guerrillas have failed notably to stir the populace to more drastic forms of resistance. In the Gaza Strip, a series of eight grenades exploded in crowded marketplaces, injuring 36 Arabs-evidently terrorist punishment for collaboration with the Israelis...
...front of the city hall of Nablus there is a large mob. It turns out that everybody wants to see the mayor. As I enter the mayor's office another stereotype vanishes. People in Israel had told me about hand-carved mahogany chairs and tables inlaid with mother-of-pearl. On the contrary, the office is simple, nearly austere. Mayor Hamdi Kan'an is seated in front of a desk with his coat on; the room is under-heated on this unusually cold winter day. In a corner there is one electric heater. Mr. Kan'an tells me that...
...Aviv I had been told the story of an Arab merchant in Nablus who had preferred to close shop rather than cooperate with the Israeli authorities and do business with Jews. He was afraid of revenge by the local population after the return of Arab control. He had a piece of land which he planned to cultivate as soon as his stock ran out. It turns out to be a very uncharacteristic case. There has been general cooperation on the part of the people. Most teachers and civil servants have remained at work. Many of the police have stayed...
...same time there is unemployment. Mayor Kan'an emphasizes this. He admits that there is always a job shortage in Nablus. But previously a man would travel to Amman, Kuwait or Saudi Arabia to find employment, often sending money to his family which remained on the West Bank. Now the frontiers are closed. Naturally the Arabs hold the Jews responsible for this economic hardship...
Mayor Kan'an emphasizes towards the end of our conversation that he feels no personal hatred towards the Jews of Israel. Another inhabitant of Nablus, a prominent businessman, assures me that the Jordanians had always been brought up to hate the Jews. As a result of the war, he finds a general change of opinion about Israel and the Israelis among the people of Nablus. "We knew nothing about Israel before and know everything now," he says. He himself has been to Tel Aviv, Yaffo, Natanya and Haifa and finds the cities "nice." He calls Israel a really European country...