Nablus
Sunday morning found us on the
bus en route with excitement to Galilee, the land where Jesus spent most of his
time. We seemed to be heading east and then northeast around Jerusalem and some
of us tried to locate ourselves and follow our progress with our smart phones
and map or GPS applications. We saw more walls and barbed wire fences and were
told again of how these and the Jewish settlements and the roads between them
block travel between different areas of the West Bank. We saw Bedouin
encampments and Jewish settlements. Our tour guides also spoke of how businesses
such as RE/MAX and AirB&B ought to be boycotted because the former buy and
settle settlement lands and the latter offer rooms for rent in the settlements.
This is all in opposition to stated international and US policy as these lands
are still considered illegally occupied.
When Israel wants to start a
settlement, the Army is dispatched to place a barbed wire fence around the
designated area, usually a hell. This blocks farmers from working their land.
When the fence has been there three years and the Palestinians have been
blocked from accessing the land, Israel uses their own laws to say that these
lands which have been now not farmed for three years are unoccupied and without
title, so belong to the state to do with as they please. This is in spite of
the reality that many of these farmers have deeds from Ottoman times.
Evidently the Palestinians have a
habit of naming their villages and even businesses and shops with names
indicating where they come from. Indeed, many family names even belie the
family's origin.
We were bound first though for
Nablus. We were told that one of the first seven deacons appointed as recorded
in The Acts of the Apostles, Philip, visited here, as did the Apostles Peter
and John. Nablus is not a biblical name and I had to do some research to find
any connection to biblical times. It is close to the biblical town of Shechem
though, which certainly figures and the history of the patriarchs.
The village of Rephidia, just
west of Nablus proper, was a Christian center. Naim's father was born here and
established himself as a goldsmith. Six of eight siblings in the family, not
including Naim, were born here before the family moved to Bisan in the Galilee.
This is some of what I found
about Nablus from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nablus:
“Nablus, founded by the Roman Emperor Vespasian in 72 CE
as Flavia Neapolis 2 km west of
the site of the biblical Shechem, which was destroyed by the
Romans that same year during the First Jewish-Roman War.[7][8] Holy places at the site of the city's founding include Joseph's Tomb and Jacob's Well. Due to the city's strategic geographic position and the
abundance of water from nearby springs, Neapolis prospered as a city in the
northern West Bank, approximately 49 kilometers (30 mi) north of Jerusalem,[2] (approximately 63 kilometers
(39 mi) by road), with a population of 126,132.[3] Located in between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the
capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center, containing
the An-Najah National
University, one of the largest Palestinian
institutions of higher learning, and the Palestinian stock-exchange.[4]
Nablus lies in a strategic
position at a junction between two ancient commercial roads; one linking the Sharon coastal plain to the Jordan valley, the other linking Nablus to the Galilee in the
north, and the biblical Judea to the south through the mountains.[39] The city stands at an elevation
of around 550 meters (1,800 ft) above sea level,[40] in a narrow valley running roughly east-west between two
mountains: Mount Ebal, the northern mountain, is the taller peak at 940 meters
(3,080 ft), while Mount Gerizim, the
southern mountain, is 881 meters (2,890 ft) high.
Nablus is located 42 kilometers
(26 mi) east of Tel Aviv, Israel, 110 kilometers (68 mi) west of Amman, Jordan and 63
kilometers (39 mi) north of Jerusalem…[40]
In 636, Neapolis, along
with most of Palestine, came under the rule of Islamic powers. This continued until
the British took over in 1917, apart from a period of time when the crusaders
took control between 1099 and 1187. Jordan took control in 1948 when Israel was
established but in 1967 Israel occupied the area as part of their advance in
the Six-Day War of that year. Then, “Jurisdiction over the city was handed over
to the Palestinian National Authority on December 12, 1995, as a result of the Oslo Accords Interim Agreement on
the West Bank.[32]”
Today, the
population is predominantly Muslim, with
small Christian and Samaritan minorities [some say only about 400]. Since 1995,
the city has been governed by the Palestinian National
Authority. In the Old City, there are a
number of sites of archaeological significance, spanning the 1st to 15th
centuries. Culturally, the city is known for its kanafeh, a popular
sweet throughout the Middle East, and its soap industry
(evidently both Hebron and Nablus are famous for this last and for also
producing special oils).
Kanafeh - Originating
in Nablus during the 15th century, by 1575, its recipe was exported throughout
the Ottoman Empire — which controlled Palestine at the time. Kanafeh is
made of several fine shreds of pastry noodles with honey-sweetened cheese in
the center. The top layer of the pastry is usually dyed orange with food
coloring and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. Though it is now made
throughout the Middle East, to the present day, kanafeh Nabulsi enjoys
continued fame, partly due to its use of a white-brine cheese called jibneh Nabulsi. Boiled sugar is used as a syrup for kanafeh.[73]”
As for history
relating to Christianity and the Church I found this:
“Justin Martyr was born
in the city c. 100 CE. The Encyclopaedia Judaica speculates that
Christianity was dominant in the 2nd or 3rd century, with some sources positing
a later date of 480 CE.[10] It is known for certain that a bishop from Nablus participated
in the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.[11] Conflict among the Christian population of Neapolis emerged in
451. By this time, Neapolis was within the Palaestina Prima province under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. The tension was a result of Monophysite Christian
attempts to prevent the return of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Juvenal, to his episcopal see.[7]
As tensions
among the Christians of Neapolis decreased, tensions between the Christian
community and the Samaritans grew dramatically.” This was around the turn of the 5th
to 6th centuries and eventually, “forces of Emperor Justinian I were sent
in to quell the revolt, which ended with the slaughter of the majority of the
Samaritan population in the city.[7]”
In 1967,
there were about 3,500 Christians of various denominations in Nablus, but that
figure dwindled to about 650 in 2008.[59] Of the Christian populace, there are seventy Orthodox Christian families, about thirty Catholic (Roman Catholic & Eastern
Melkite Catholic) families and thirty Anglican families.
Most Christians used to live in the suburb of Rafidia in the
western part of the city.[9]”
I was also interested in going to this area as this city is in part also
located between two mountains famous in biblical history, Gerizim, which is to
the south and Ebal, which is to the north. In Deuteronomy 11:26-32, it is
recorded that God informed Moses as follows:
11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a
blessing and a curse: 11:27 the blessing if you take to heart the
commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 11:28 and the curse if you pay no attention to his commandments and turn
from the way I am setting before you today to pursue other gods you have not
known. 11:29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are
to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on
Mount Ebal. 11:30 Are they not across the Jordan River, toward the west, in the land of
the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the oak of Moreh? 11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will
possess and inhabit it. 11:32 Be certain to keep all the statutes and
ordinances that I am presenting to you today.
The same instructions appear to be repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 27:
11-13:
27:11 Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day: 27:12 “The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim
when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
27:13 And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben,
Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
At the same time that these instructions were
given, Moses and the elders of Israel also “commanded the people:
“Pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today. 27:2 When you
cross the Jordan River to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must
erect great stones and cover them with plaster. 27:3 Then you must inscribe on
them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the
land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just
as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you. 27:4 So when you cross the
Jordan you must erect on Mount Ebal these stones about which I am commanding
you today, and you must cover them with plaster. 27:5 Then you must build an
altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones – do not use an iron tool
on them. 27:6 You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones
and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 27:7 Also you must offer
fellowship offerings and eat them there, rejoicing before the Lord your God.
27:8 You must inscribe on the stones all the words of this law, making them
clear.”
The actual performance of these rituals then took place during the time
of Moses' successor Joshua, as recorded in Joshua 8:30-35:
8:30 Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, 8:31 just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. As
described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched
by an iron tool. They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of
peace. 8:32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the
stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses. 8:33 All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges
were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who
carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native
Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the
other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed to them
to do for the formal blessing ceremony. 8:34 Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the
law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the
law scroll. 8:35 Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given before the whole
assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who
lived among them.
It was exciting then to make our way through the traffic into Nablus and
look at what are really hills, although of quite a height, on either side of
the valley in which Nablus sits. Over the last 50 years, much building has gone
up the slopes on both sides as the city of Nablus has grown. The Mount Gerizim
area is also the home to the Samaritans, of which only some 400-500 evidently
remain. We did not get to meet them. They apparently still only accept the
Pentateuch, the books of Moses, as their Scripture.
Greek Catholic Church
Our first stop was the Greek
Catholic Melkite Church of St. John and Convent. After the necessary reality of
a bathroom break in the living quarters of the priest and his family we sat
down in an adjacent large meeting room for some refreshments.
Greek Catholics,
known as Melkites (a word meaning “royalist”), form the second largest
Christian church in the Holy Land — after the Greek Orthodox, whose Byzantine
liturgy they share. Their Patriarch of Antioch is in Damascus. They are called Melkites
because they chose to remain loyal to the Byzantine monarch and patriarch
instead of yield to the papacy in Rome when the church divided in the 1800s.
Both the Greek Catholics and Greek Orthodox are indigenous churches.
Interfaith meeting including Muslim Imam
Meet with Religious Leaders of Nablus
We met with representatives of the Greek
Catholic (father Yusuf), Anglican, Roman Catholic and
Muslim faiths. Reverend Ateek offered some
explanatory remarks and introduced the others. The
main speaker
was the Muslim Cleric, Zuhair al Debi. His title of Imam could simply be
translated
as leader, referring to of a congregation. He said that this title
was more important in Shia Islam
whereas most Palestinians are Sunni. Sheikh
means elder or person of respect and mullah simply
refers to an educated
person.
He
certainly spoke of the need to work together as interfaith bodies in the face
of the oppression from the Israeli occupying forces. He also stated that at his
encouragement, he and Sabeel had written a book about peace and nonviolence in
both Islam and Christianity. He stated that the thought of becoming a cleric
had occurred to him when he had been jailed for seven years. He also talked of
how in this area Muslims and Christians are united by nationality, values and
morals. With respect to the history of the area, he talked about how the Jews
had chased out 300 Muslims and Christians in 1947, many of whom had died of
thirst. The Muslims and Christians buried them together, one reading from the
Koran and the other using their own liturgy and prayers.
He
acknowledged that both the Koran and the Bible contain passages about violence
and that in both cases, some use these passages to support that, while others
use the same or different texts to promote peace. He indicated that you could
not blame God or the text for that. He even spoke about how Gandhi practice the
same nonviolence and was killed by someone who practiced violence. He believed
that God would ultimately judge people for how they read and use the text.
According to him, even the Koran states this will happen at the resurrection
and day of judgment. He spoke of God being the God of all of us and that every
time we do good we are drawn closer to God. He said that when it came to
Muslim-Christian relations, one of the main bones of contention would be the
unhappiness of the former with those Christians who don't understand, share and
promote mutual values that would sustain community.
As we
visited, rested and listened to the speakers, we enjoyed coffee, small
apricot-like fruit, chocolate and Kanafeh, the Palestinian treat described in
the paragraphs on Nablus above. Kenafeh could be described as a delicious
cheesecake, served warm, made with goat cheese and boiled sugar which gives it
a honey-like consistency. We were also introduced to the young daughter of the
Rector's family whose name was Zuhair, which means small bouquet of flowers and
is an old Arabic name.
Lunch at Tanoreen Restaurant with all of the above
Then our whole group plus these
clerics went to this restaurant for lunch. Its specialty was menu items
prepared in an underground bake oven, the practice from which the restaurant
gets its name, which some of us took the advantage of an opportunity to go and
look at.
I ended up sitting across from
Roman Catholic Father Simon Haguzeer. He was an enthusiastic and keen
individual, at least the way he presented during our meeting. He indicated that
he was of Bedouin background from southern Jordan and had served in Jenin
before. His local parish of four churches consisted of 65 families; about 700
believers. This is really not enough to support the church when the average
apartment rent for a family, or a priest, is $400 a month and the average
salary is $2-300 a month. However, they also operate a secondary school of
which the majority of its 700 students are actually Muslim. The tuition of $400
a month helps to support the church.
Father Simon indicated that his
family originally came from Saudi Arabia. He said that he knew of about 7500
extended relatives and that they have a history of three hundred years of
Christianity. In this family alone, he knew of 21 priests.
The Orthodox Church of Jacob’s Well at Sychar
This is the other important
Christian site of the area and one that is thought by most to quite accurately
date back to Jesus' time if not Jacob's. It is a short distance from downtown
Nablus. We met the priest or abuna, as they say in Arabic, of this Greek Orthodox
Church/Convent, and our tour guides translated all that he had to tell us.
He spoke of how the current
church had been attacked 16 times by the Israelis and how he himself had been
beaten up. He showed us damaged areas, such as on the stairway down to the well
and on the floor near the well, that had been hit by tank shelling in 2005. One
of the nuns had even been killed in this attack. He spoke of one Christian
family who had a case for land before the court that was believed to be the
site where John the Baptist was beheaded and where they want to build a church.
He talked of how the mixture of
religion and politics creates problems. You have to be diplomatic, which really
comes from the Greek double-eyed: seeing with one eye what you want and
ignoring with the other what you don't want to see.
The priest showed us around and
explained what we saw. Apparently he completed many of the paintings, frescoes
and mosaics that covered the walls and ceilings of the church in the years that
he has served here. He talked of the pictures of Christ representing two
persons in one, God and man. Representations of double-headed eagles referred
to Constantinian times and the amalgamation of church and state, sword and
cross. He pointed out that the prominence of a portrait of Mary at the front of
the apse was because of her mediating role between God and man. He also pointed
out a painting of St. Lucia, the light and Fatina or Nora. The four pillars in
the center of the sanctuary referenced the four Gospels. His favorite was John,
whose stories he said were much clearer and easier to understand, as well as
being the one that seemed most favorable to Samaritans. Jesus highlighted the
Samaritans as examples of the underdog, the oppressed and marginalized; those
looked down on by the self-righteous Jews.
He said that the best part of the
story was that God had come to be with a man at the most personal 1:1 level.
Yet, God is spirit and above everything and everyplace. He also spoke of how
this place was important because of its relationship to a situation where Jesus
met a woman, especially a non-Jew, but did not condemn or judge her.
The priest then demonstrated how
deep the basement well is by pouring a cup of water down and having us wait to
hear the sound of the water splashing at the bottom. One of our team, Paul
Verduin, then cranked up a bucket of water for us to taste from its refreshing
coolness. This took some effort and time because of the distance. It was
something to think that we were drinking from the same well that Jesus had
drank from nearly 2000 years earlier.
Lodging at Betharram Guesthouse,
Nazareth
From here we continued north,
crossing back into Israel, and finally coming to the convent we were going to
be staying in at Nazareth. Again, the staff prepared wonderfully sumptuous
meals in the quarters were certainly adequate. I had not noticed it in
Jerusalem our Bethlehem, in the former case perhaps because of our distance
from the nearest mosque, and in the latter because of our height in a sealed
air-conditioned modern building, but here I was awakened around 4:15 a.m. by
the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at the beginning of the day. One could
also hear roosters crowing, which I believe I had heard at Bethlehem.
Meeting Sabeel Nazareth staff for dinner
When we checked in, we found that
in the courtyard adjacent to the dining room, the local Sabeel staff were
already waiting to meet us. This included Violet Khoury who was to be our tour
guide a couple of days later, and 3 others.
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