NABULUS

also spelled Nablus, biblical Hebrew Shechem, or Sichem, Greek Neapolis, city of central Palestine, the largest community of the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria) territory under Israeli administration since 1967. The city lies in an enclosed, fertile valley and is the market centre of a natural oasis that is watered by numerous springs. Shechem, a Canaanite city, was important in ancient Palestine because of its position in an eastwest pass between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (Arabic Jabal at-Tur and Jabal 'Aybal, respectively), one of the few such routes in Palestine's hill country. Its ruins are under the stratified mound of Tall al-Balatah, just east of the present city, which shows evidence of settlement from the Middle Bronze II period (c. 1900c. 1750 BC), generally associated with the time of the biblical patriarchs. In the Bible it is first mentioned in Genesis 12:6, where, after coming into Canaan, Abram passed . . . to the place at Shechem, to the oak [or terebinth] of Moreh. Jacob bought land there, and it was the site of the rape of his daughter Dinah by the son of the local Hivite chieftain, and of her brothers' subsequent revenge (Genesis 34). The city is mentioned in Egyptian documents of the 19th century BC. During the rule of the Hyksos kings of Egypt (16th17th century BC), Shechem was a strong walled city, with a triple gate, a fortress-temple, and an acropolis. Some of the sites specifically mentioned in the Book of Judges have tentatively been identified by archaeologists. Later, after King Solomon's death, the 10 northern tribes of Israel revolted in Shechem against Solomon's son Rehoboam and installed Jeroboam as king in his place (I Kings 12). After the Assyrian conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel (722 BC), the city of Shechem declined. It was resettled by the Samaritans, who established their sanctuary on adjacent Mount Gerizim, and was important in the Hellenistic period but was destroyed by the Maccabean ruler John Hyrcanus (reigned 135/134104 BC). The later city of Nabulus is not identical with the ancient site, but the two have been closely (though erroneously) linked for almost 2,000 years. Both rabbinic and early Christian literature commonly equated Nabulus with ancient Shechem, and Nabulus has been called Shekhem in Hebrew to the present. Founded under the auspices of the Roman emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and originally named Flavia Neapolis, it prospered because of its strategic site and the abundance of nearby springs. Later called Julia Neapolis, or simply Neapolis (Greek: New City), it is portrayed on the 6th-century Ma'daba map (see Ma'daba). It was conquered by the Arabs in AD 636; the modern name is an Arabic corruption of the Greek form. It was held by the Christian crusaders from 1099 until 1187; they called it Naples, and it was briefly the crusader capital. Though it is the principal centre of the numerically tiny Samaritan community, Nabulus has been a Muslim Arab city for centuries. In modern times, it was part of the Palestine mandate from 1923 until 1948; taken by Arab forces in the ArabIsraeli war of 194849, it was subsequently annexed to Jordan. A principal centre of Arab opposition both to Britain and to the Zionist movement during the mandate, it was the scene of frequent unrest. Much of the city was destroyed in a severe earthquake in 1927. The economy, both under the mandate and under Jordanian rule, was based on agricultural trade and handicrafts. An important and long-established industry is the manufacture of soap from olive oil. A centre of terrorist activities against Israel from 1948 to 1967, it was the southern anchor of the triangle of Arab guerrilla centres (N abulus, Tul Karm, Janin). Resistance to Israeli occupation continued after the Six-Day War of 1967, but by the early 1970s the situation had tempered; in 1972, Nabulus was the site of the first all-West Bank agricultural fair. After the war of October 1973, Nabulus once again became a centre of Arab unrest toward the occupying forces. Notable places include the Jami' al-Kabir and Jami' an-Nasr mosques, which are built on the remains of Byzantine churches; the old Samaritan quarter; and the traditional site of Jacob's Well, south of the city. Pop. (1984 est.) 80,000.