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Neighborhood in Nablus City

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Neighborhood in Nablus City OFF-TOPIC 154 Introduction What does it mean to be a neighbor in Neighborhood in Nablus City: Nablus city? What impact do social rela- The Formation of a Social Safety tions have on coping with the Israeli cur- few that was imposed on the families liv- Network during the Siege ing in the city in 2002 and in the years that followed? During my fieldwork in 2012 and 2013 in Nablus, a city in Palestine, I had the chance to meet families and indi- viduals from differing backgrounds. It was striking to me that despite their different backgrounds they had the same reaction to the mention of the word siege, which was allah lā yʿīdha min ayyām (Hope that God will never let those days return). Their conversations made it clear that their Noura Kamal memories still have a major influence on their actions and daily behavior. In 2002, Nablus City in Palestine had to pational apparatus and to practice their At that time and in the years after, I kept face more than one siege. The first siege daily activities despite the three-month communicating with people and families affected all Palestinian cities; the Israeli siege that was imposed by the Israeli in Nablus. I used different approaches to army invaded the Palestinian territories army. This paper focuses on neighbor- be able to gather adequate data that and imposed a curfew for around a month hood relations: describing their distinc- reflects the reality from within. Participant in April. Later the same year between tive influence on peoples’ lives and observation and narrative interviews were June and October, the city of Nablus wit- reflecting on the meaning of being a my main tools to gain in-depth informa- nessed a siege that was characterized by neighbor, the obligations of neighbors tion about the daily life of the inhabitants. immobility and destruction. No one was within the same district, and how these Meeting individuals, families, men, and allowed to leave their home; to do so put relations manifested during the siege in women from different backgrounds and their lives under threat. This paper will 2002 and afterwards. places in the city allowed me to delve reflect upon the role of the neighborhood deeply into the quotidian life of the peo- in the construction of a social safety net- Keywords: Palestine, Nablus, ple. In time, I was able to develop a strong work. This network supported the inhabit- Neighborhood, Siege, Occupation. relationship with them and gain their trust, ants in their struggle to confront the occu- which I cherish deeply until today. Not Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 14 –2020 OFF-TOPIC 155 only did they welcome me in their homes hours. It was impossible to practice simple forms of solidarity and social networks, and share their experiences during and activities, such as going to work or buying especially on the family and neighbor- after the siege, they also included me in from shops, since everything was closed. hood levels, have combined with well- their daily life by telling me stories that can What is fascinating is that the city seemed organized popular committees on the hardly be found in the literature. People’s like a ghost town, but in reality, people grassroots level to provide the minimum narratives and their stories can provide us were able to continue practicing their lives necessary degree of social cohesion” with vital knowledge about human rela- under the surface. Even though no one (Doumani, “Scenes from Daily Life” 1). tions. was allowed to move, people were still These social relations were the main factor Everyone’s story reflects his or her indi- able to sneak to their shops with each promoting survival during the siege. vidual ways of dealing with the past. On other’s help without being seen by the sol- Kinship ties were also important, but this the one hand, its consequences can still diers. Even schools continued to run in paper will shed light on neighborhood be detected easily in the present by look- each neighborhood, where all students relations, which became part of what I call ing at the continuing Israeli occupation were gathered and the teachers took on the “pillars of resilience” (Kamal 38). and the deteriorating economic situation. the responsibility to teach them. They According to Hastrup (106), resilience is On the other hand, empty spaces where were able to contact each other by calling “an emergent quality of all responsible buildings once stood or demolished at home and exchanging information social action; it is the rule and not the houses and many other damaged build- about the location of the soldiers. Knowing exception of social life, given that all soci- ings can be seen in the different areas of the exact places allowed the inhabitants to eties must demonstrate a degree of flexi- the old city which are: Al-Yasmīneh, move from home to home or to their work- bility to operate and ultimately to survive”. Al-Gharb, Al-Qaryūn, Al-‘Aqaba, shops without the soldiers seeing them. The pillars of resilience are tradition, reli- Al-Qīsariyyeh, and al-Ḥabaleh and are a The inhabitants of Nablus were able to gion, kinship, and neighborhood, the further reminder to people of the suffering continue this pattern until the long siege combination of which helped individuals they experienced. came to an end. survive in the wider context, through sup- The first siege was when the Israeli army The uniqueness of the city of Nablus is port and inner relief. Altogether, the pillars invaded all Palestinian cities in April 2002 manifested in the social relations that exist led to the formation of a wide social safety for around a month. Later, also in 2002, among its inhabitants. This paper reflects network that individuals were able to rely Nablus was invaded again for three on how the inhabitants were able to sur- on during the siege. Each one of the pillars months. During those days, no one was vive such a long curfew by relying mainly is explained in different papers I will pub- allowed to leave their home without put- on their social network. Doumani illus- lish separately.1 ting lives under threat. Daily activities were trates that it is challenging to comprehend One of these articles (Kamal, “Nablus forbidden due to the restrictions on mobil- how the inhabitants of Nablus managed Under Siege”) analyzes religiosity, kinship, ity. People were allowed to leave their to stand together during the hard times: and the creation of resilience. It provides houses only every now and then for a few “The short explanation is that historical a deep insight into the concept of resil- Middle East – Topics & Arguments # 14 –2020 OFF-TOPIC 156 ience and its origins (Leslie and McCabe social processes that contribute to the for- Since An-Naksa (the setback)5 and during 116; Hastrup 28; Berkes and Turner 487; mation of neighborhood ties. From this the Israeli occupation, the inhabitants of Holling 14; Alexander 2708). In addition, it perspective, this paper will delve with an the city lost their land and their basic highlights the specificity of the term in the ethnographic lens into what neighbor- rights. While I was sitting with an old man Palestinian context and how it has evolved hood means in the context of Nablus City in his 70s in his family house, he remarked: over the course of the 20th and 21st cen- during times of crisis and insecurity. “I was outside of Palestine when it fell tury. Furthermore, resilience’s inherent link under the Israeli occupation in June 1967. to the Palestinian concept of ṡumud A reflection upon Nablus City When I entered Palestine and saw the (steadfastness) must not be underesti- The city of Nablus is located between two Israeli flag I started to cry.” This man was mated (Thoburn 378; Rijke and Teeffelen mountains, Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, and not crying merely for a lost plot of land. His 86; Meari 549; Schiocchet 3). lies to the north of Jerusalem/al-Quds. deep sorrow was caused by the loss of the This paper focuses on the fourth pillar: Nablus is situated within area “A” following rest of Palestine in the 20 years since neighborhood in Nablus. This article the Oslo agreement.2 It played an import- An-Nakba6 (disaster, catastrophe). As reflects upon neighborhood relations in ant role in history (Al-Zarū 36-37) and wit- Taraki explains: Nablus and their role in the formation of nessed various different rulers (e.g. The consequences of the Nakba in the social safety network during the siege. Roman, Turkish, British, and Israeli occupa- 1948 and the military occupation in It does so by describing their distinctive tion). Due to its continuous active resis- 1967 have been far-reaching and must influence on peoples’ lives, the meaning tance to Israeli occupation,3 it was sepa- be brought into the analysis of family of being a neighbor, and the obligations rated from other Palestinian cities by and household dynamics. Stateless- of neighbors within the same district. This several occupation methods, mainly mili- ness, economic dependency on Israel, aspect links to Bourdieu’s reflection on tary checkpoints.4 Historically, Nablus City water and land confiscation, the mar- social practices, which he sees as “a set of is considered a hub of resistance, as ginalization of agriculture, migration dispositions that generate practices and Beshara Doumani explains: “Nabulsis are to oil states and beyond, and arres- perceptions. The habitus is the result of a proud of their city’s epithet, the ‘Mountain ted urbanization are only some of the long process of inculcation, beginning in of Fire’, an appellation deriving from a more salient aspects of this condition early childhood, which becomes a ‘sec- local legend that Napoleon, upon (…).
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