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Home , Askar (camp), Balata, Nablus, Samaria (ancient city)

Living in Things About to See An-Najah National Nablus and the and Do in Nablus University Orientation for p 2 p 6 p 11 University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies

About An-Najah National University p 3

General Information for SOAS Students

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www.najah.edu About Nablus

Approximately 63 kilometers north of , settlements in the world, the city contains archi- quarters for skills and goods. Nablus is also a Nablus is rich with centuries of history. Strate- tecture from Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and commercial center for the northern West Bank gically located in the beautiful valley between Ottoman times. The Old City of Nablus dates and Nablusi , made from local oil and and , Nablus is a cul- to the Mamluke period and is indicative of tra- caustic soda, it has been produced in the city for tural hub for the Palestinian people. Considered ditional Middle Eastern Souks and marketplaces more then 250 years. to be one of the oldest continuously occupied that still exist today. It is replete with specialized About An-Najah National University

An-Najah was founded as An-Najah Nablusi and Khadouri Campus. personnel who seek to continuously improve School in 1918 and has since evolved into a large, An-Najah is the largest institution in , the content and the internationalization of our technologically advanced institution, comprised with approximately 20,000 students who pursue institution’s standards. of four campuses: the Old Campus, the New quality education and personal development. Campus, Hisham Hijjawi College of Technology, We have 1,790 academic and administrative on Nativ N e S or p f e ic a k b e a r r

s A General Information for SOAS Students

A y n t - i s N r a e ja iv h n National U

Schedule Classes Teachers

Students will Every teacher has Days: Sunday-Wednesday be taking four classes: office hours. Program Times: 9am-10:30am – Class Palestinian Colloquial, instructors and their office hours are 10:30am-11am – Break Literature, Arabic Grammar, and the following: 11am-1pm – Class Conversation and Listening. All • Dr. Raed Abdel-Rahim: Old Campus classes will be in the New Campus Office (12-1pm, S./Tu./Th.), New Library. Attending lectures is mandatory. Campus Library (1-2pm, M./W.) An absence of six lectures will result in • Dr. Abdul Khalek Issa: New Campus expulsion from the program. Library (1-2pm, S./Tu./Th.) • Dr. Momoun Mubarakeh: To be Announced Program Contact Information

Dr. Raed Abdel-Rahim, Head of Program mobile: 059-8926660 [email protected]

Teaching Methods Field Trips Arabic Partners and Assessment

The program The program will Teaching methods organizes monthly trips to assign Palestinian students as utilized include the textbook, various Palestinian cities, such as, partners to practice Arabic. Students homework, reports, field study, , , , , and are expected to meet with their partner and e-learning. The program avoids Qalqiliya. Students will watch films about at least twice per week. translation into English – you should talk these places and practice communicating exclusively in Arabic in class. Assessment with locals while there. Afterwards, students is based upon exams (which include conver- will write about their experience. sation and listening sections), homework, and written reports. Living in Nablus and the West Bank

Transportation Within Nablus Private taxis have a blue rectangle on the door. They will take you directly Between Villages and Cities within the West Bank where you tell them to take you for the fixed price of 10 shekels. However, There are also servees taxis that run to nearby villages and other cities. traveling to some of the further out places will cost more, especially if you are These are the bigger taxi vans. All three stations are close to the city center. crossing the city center. For example, Askaan Amria is usually 15 shekels The big one (where you can also catch buses) is where you will find the from the city center (although it should be 10 from the Old Campus). servees taxis going to other cities, such as (17 shekels), / A servees taxi has a black rectangle on the door. These taxis run fixed routes, Jerusalem (17 shekels), Jenin (15 shekels), or Jericho (50 shekels). and you can get on and off anywhere along their route. These are much Often you cannot get a servees directly from Nablus to where you want to go. cheaper because you are only paying for your own seat. Most servees taxis To get to Bethlehem, you need to go to Ramallah first (17 shekels) and get run to/from the city center. The servees between the city center and the New a different servees from there (20 shekels). But if you tell the driver here in Campus is 2½ shekels. There is also one that runs between the Old and New Nablus that you are going to Bethlehem, he will often make some phone calls Campuses for 2 shekels. and connect you with a servees going to Bethlehem somewhere outside of At either end of the route, the servees will usually wait to fill up before it leaves. Ramallah, and you can then avoid driving into the center of Ramallah (which If you want to get on a servees in the middle of a route, you just need to wait saves some time). until one with an empty seat is driving by. Usually they will honk at you to let The other two servees stations are smaller and serve the villages surrounding Nablus. There is one on each side of the city center. Generally, the western you know they have room. station serves villages to the west and north, whereas the eastern station If a servees is empty, you can “convert” it to a private taxi, and they will take serves villages to the east and south, as well as and . you where you want to go for the same rates as private taxis. Note that all these stop running around 6-9pm (depending upon the day You do not need to carry your passport around with you as long as you stay and the route), so make sure you leave early enough so you can get home. in Nablus (don’t cross any checkpoints). Whenever you leave Nablus, to go Otherwise, you will have to pay a much higher fee for a private taxi to take either to a village or another city, make sure you take your passport with you you the whole way. If you are somehow able to get a servees late at night, in case you get stopped at a checkpoint. expect to pay a higher rate. Additionally, if the servees is partially full, and it seems like it won’t fill up anytime soon, you can buy the extra seat(s), and the driver will then be happy to depart immediately. If you are taking the bus, they stop running around 4-5pm. To The simplest way to get to Israel is to go through the Qalandia checkpoint near Jerusalem. You can take a servees there from Nablus (17 shekels). Once there, you can board a taxi (10 shekels per seat, or 50 shekels for the whole taxi) or a bus (7 shekels) to take you across the checkpoint and drop you off at Gate in Jerusalem. There are also Israeli bus lines that serve the settlements that you can use, but this requires knowing the timetable and getting a taxi driver from Nablus to drop you off/pick you up from the bus stop. If you are going to , it can save you a of time. You also can cross into Israel through Jenin if you want to go to northern areas.

Food Produce Markets Grocery Stores Restaurants Eating at a Palestinian Home

Generally, to Most other There are buy produce, just ask items you can find plenty of places are very hospitable, for a bag and start filling it in the grocery stores. to get cheap and quick so you will most likely at up with the vegetables or fruits There are smaller stores all sandwiches to go, such as some point be invited to eat at that you want (but only put one throughout the city that have a falafel (usually about 3 shekels) somebody’s home. You should type in each bag). Then you decent selection. The largest and shwarma (usually about expect to be fed a lot of food, hand the shopkeeper your bag, supermarkets are Bravo and 11-12 shekels). almost always including meat. and he will weigh it, adding or Superstore. Bravo has a lot of At sit-down restaurants, you If you are a vegetarian, you will removing pieces to make it an the rarer, imported items that shouldn’t expect them to bring want to tell them that ahead even kilo. you can’t find elsewhere, but it Some larger items (such as you the check as soon as of time, and specify that you is also on the whole a bit more watermelons or heads of you’re finished eating. Usually also don’t eat chicken or fish cauliflower) are sold per unit. expensive. Superstore isn’t people will stay awhile after (Palestinians only count red You don’t have to haggle over quite as large, but it also has a they finish eating, so they just meats like beef or mutton as the price here – prices are pretty large selection and pretty good don’t want to rush you. When “meat”). Also, don’t expect it to standardized no matter who you prices. you want to leave, just ask for be a quick visit – plan on being buy from. You might get ripped the check. Also, tipping isn’t there several hours. off at first, but once the sellers expected here. get to know you, especially if Pretty much everything is you buy from the same people closed on Fridays (whether every week, you should be restaurants, markets, stores, fine. or offices of any kind). Getting a Phone

If you are planning on getting a cell phone The system is pay-as-you-go. As long as you want to put on. here, we’d recommend getting a Jawwal SIM are in the West Bank, you don’t pay to receive If you need to buy a cell phone (and not just card. Messaging and calling other networks calls or texts, only to place them. Twenty the SIM card), you can get one for as cheap as can be expensive, and most Palestinians use shekels can last a long time – I’ve made it 100 shekels. Jawwal. However, using your Jawwal phone in five months on twenty shekels, but even for The international calling code for Palestine is Israel will quickly use up your credits. To get a a more normal person, twenty shekels should +972. Jawwal phone numbers are 059-XXX- Jawwal number, just go to a Jawwal store (they’re last at least a month. To add money to your XXXX. If someone is calling you from everywhere), and they will set you up. You need to phone, just go to any Jawwal store, give them abroad, they will need to drop that first zero take your passport with you. your phone, and tell them how much you (e.g., 97259-XXX-XXXX).

Exercise Attire Lone running is considered very odd here and will likely draw a lot of For Women For Men attention and isn’t advisable, especially for women. If you desire to You will draw less attention if your You can wear longer shorts exercise, we would recommend going to the University gym or the pool. shoulders and knees are covered. here, but be aware that There are also several private gyms that we can give you directions to. Transparent tops, spaghetti straps, shorter shorts aren’t culturally They are all usually gender segregated. and low necklines aren’t advisable. normative.

Money In different sites of the city, there are ATMs where Visa and Visa Electron Cost of Living in Nablus cards work. With those cards you will automatically withdraw USA, and Depending on how often you eat out at restaurants, then you need to change them; however, some ATMs will also allow you to whether you travel on weekends, etc. But you can extract Israeli Shekels directly. There are numerous places throughout the expect to spend 10 and 20 shekels per day. town where you can change dollars into New Israeli Shekels (NIS). Accommodations Finding housing in Nablus is difficult, so please over at all – please confer with the International Office share with other international colleagues, the make sure you respect your accommodations and to see if this applies to you. Finally, please make sure cost will be a lot cheaper, approx. $100-$150, your neighbors. Don’t trash the place, and don’t to turn off lights, fans, heaters, and water when you depending on how many people are sharing be obnoxiously loud late at night. Also, as you are leave the apartment, and be careful where you put the flat. Students also have the option of sta- probably aware, it is not culturally acceptable to have heaters in winter. ying with a family for the cost of $100-150/ per someone of the opposite sex over late in the evening month (including utility bills and contributing or overnight. Keep in mind that your neighbors are Students have the option of renting a flat which to occasionally eating cooked meals with the watching you. Some landlords have requested that usually costs approximately $600-$800/ month, family). the women living in their apartments don’t invite men if you choose to rent alone. If students wish to Alcohol and Drugs

If you drink here, you must drink very discretely. bottles. Try to dispose of your empty bottles dis- more lenient towards the consumption of alcohol. Nablus is probably the most conservative Palesti- cretely as well. Some landlords have completely Additionally drug use is completely forbidden. Even nian city, and people here find alcohol consumption banned alcohol compensation in their apartments asking for drugs will get you in a lot of trouble. Drug particularly offensive. You should not drink, be seen as well – please confer with the International Office use could result in police detention or deportation. with alcohol, or even smell like alcohol in public. If to see if this applies to you. If you want to go out you purchase alcohol, make sure to conceal the and drink, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem are

You might be detained or deported if you become Be aware that your movements and internet activity involved in political or resistance activities, such as, are likely being observed. You are here to learn and Political Involvement protests, the International Solidarity Movement, or study Arabic – don’t put that at risk by getting involved political groups (including campus political groups). in political activities.

Accommodations Finding housing in Nablus is difficult, so please to have someone of the opposite sex over late in International Office to see if this applies to you. make sure you respect your accommodations and the evening or overnight. Keep in mind that your Finally, please make sure to turn off lights, fans, your neighbors. Don’t trash the place, and don’t neighbors are watching you. Some landlords have heaters, and water when you leave the apartment, be obnoxiously loud late at night. Also, as you requested that the women living in their apartments and be careful where you put heaters in winter. are probably aware, it is not culturally acceptable don’t invite men over at all – please confer with the Old City Hamaams Samaritan Village

The old city is home to many markets and (Turkish Baths) Nablus is home to one of two remaining narrow streets. It is a great place to explore Samaritan communities in the world. Take a taxi up to the top of Mt. Gerizim where you can and shop. You can go relax at one of the old city’s several visit the Samaritan Museum and tour the ruins hamaams. There are different hours for men and of the ancient Samaritan Temple. These are women, so make sure to find out ahead of time closed from mid-afternoon on Friday and all when you can go. day on Saturday. Samaa Nablus

Samaa Nablus is a private overlook park Things to See near the top of Mt. Ebal. This is a great place to see the city and relax. You can pack a picnic or buy food or sheesha from one of the mountaintop cafes. and Do in Nablus

Soap Factories Football (Soccer) Games

Nablus has traditionally been known for its The municipal stadium often hosts football games that you can go watch. While locals have to pay to soap production. Nablusi soap is made from get in, they generally refuse to let foreigners pay. Sometimes they will also want you to sit in the VIP and is good for your skin. You can take section (presumably for your protection). The local team in the West Bank Premier League is Markaz a tour of one of the remaining soap factories and wears blue. If you are a woman, please note that you will be the only woman in the entire that sits near the duwwar (the giant circle in building (they’ll most likely let you in because you’re a foreigner, but you will be very much out of place). the city center). Jacob’s Well Olive Picking Tel Balata Jacob’s Well, the site of the biblical story of talking to the woman at the well (among other The Palestinian olive harvest is coming up Close to the Balata stands Tel stories), is located under the altar of a red-domed in October and November. Traditionally city- Balata, the ruins of an ancient village. There Orthodox church across the street from the Balata dwellers go out to the country to help villagers isn’t a whole lot to see, but it’s close to ’s Camp. During certain hours, someone from with the harvest. If someone invites you to go Tomb, Jacob’s Well, and the Balata Refugee the church will let you in and show you around. olive picking with them, don’t turn down the Camp, so you can combine a visit with other Admission is free, but they appreciate (and opportunity! sites. sometimes ask for) donations. Joseph’s Tomb Volunteering in Nablus

A few blocks away from Tel Balata, Joseph’s We also recommend contacting any of the reputable NGOs that work here in Nablus to volunteer. The Tomb is believed by some to be the resting Sanad Society works with disabled children. The Yaffa Cultural Center in Balata Camp and Tomorrow’s place of the Patriarch Joseph and by others Youth Organization (TYO) use volunteers to run many of their programs. Additionally, there are of a sheikh named Joseph. Generally a few opportunities to volunteer right here on campus with the Zajel Youth Exchange and the American Corner P.A. soldiers guard the place and will let you (even though you’re not Americans, you’re still fluent in English). If you are interested in volunteering, in if you stop by. contact the International Office for more information. Refugee Camps Sebastia Nablus is home to three refugee camps: Balata, About 20 or 30 minutes northwest of Nablus lies the village of Sebastia. Perched on a high hill in the , and Camp No. 1. If you go to one of the middle of a broad valley, Sebastia was the ancient capital of the northern Israelite kingdom (then known camps, you will attract a lot of attention. You as ), and also the city where it is believed was beheaded. The servees will drop should visit the camps either with somebody you know who lives there or with an organization you off in the town square. Right on the square is a (formerly crusader church) dedicated to John that works there. If you don’t know anybody, the Baptist. From the square, walk up the hill through the village until you reach a large open area at the you could contact the Yaffa Center, located top. There you will find many ruins to walk around and explore. The view of the surrounding countryside is across the street from Jacob’s Well in the Balata also spectacular. When you are finished, walk back down to the square and ask people where to catch the Camp. They might be willing to show you their servees back to Nablus (it’s down the hill from the square). In the spring Sebastia hosts a cultural festival. center and the work they do, along with asking someone to show you around the camp. Finally, During the day they offer tours of the village (they will even let you inside the mosque) and the ruins, and in going to the camps after dark isn’t a smart idea. the evening there is a music and performance in the ancient amphitheatre. Your Visa

Check your visa to make sure you were given a three-month tourist visa. While you have this visa you can tra- vel freely throughout Israel and the West Bank. It’s okay if you have a shorter visa, but we need to know so that we can get to work on your extended visa immediately. A month prior to the expiration of your tourist visa, come to the International Office and we will help you apply to extend your visa. However, we are not able to guarantee that Israel will accept your application. Additionally, this new visa might prohibit travel outside of the West Bank. We have no way of knowing whether you will be restricted to the West Bank or not, and we have no control over it. Either way, we expect you to abide by the restrictions of your visa. If you leave the country (to or or somewhere else), please be aware that your extended visa will be cancelled. Zajel Student Account

Dr. Raed will give you a Zajel number. You need to take this number and go to the Computer Department on the first floor of the Administration Building. Speak to Firas Abu Els- heh (ext. 4449) and he will give you a student number and password. You can then log into the university website with your new Zajel account and view your grades, attendance  records, program/schedule, etc. Zajel Contacts for SOAS Students

During Working Hours (Sunday-Thursday, 8am-3:30pm) If you have any problems, feel free to contact us. The International Office is on the second floor of the Administration Building on the Old Campus, Room 2030. Office hours are 8am-3:30pm, Sunday to Thursday.

International Office Nablus T: 09-2394960 Ext: 4486/4484 Email: [email protected]

British Consulate Emergency Phone Numbers

T: 02-5414100/41 Police: 100 Fax: 02-5322368/5414157 Ambulance: 101 Email: [email protected] Fire: 102

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