Army base above Nablus

Project Hope sets you up on a tour of the city and essential places you need to know. It was amazing to see the old city as its four centuries old and some of the vendors from the market have over 5 generations at the same location. Everyone was saying hello and welcoming you as they don't see a foreign presence that often in Nablus. During the tour I had to wear the Project Hope vest and felt a little embarrased but figured, what the hell, they know I'm with an NGO anyways so why not. Most of the women wear Hijab but there are few who choose not to. My guide walked me towards the library where I was going to get a card for regular use, he pointed to a very foreign looking structure high on one of the mountains bearing over the city and told me this was the IDF army base. This is where the soldiers train and do their service, store all equiptment and then raid the city during the night for a collective punishment scare tactic to keep things "in order". The base was not too high, I could make out the lights, entry point and windows on the tower where snipers can watch from a distance. I couldn't understand how a tightly nit community could live under such conditions, especially the people from the refugee camps throughout the city. There is such beauty here and such destruction. What I did observe though was that the lockdown has had a preservation effect on the culture. It's not eroded by Western tourism as Jerusalem is, and this I feel privledged to spend time in and be apart of Palestinian prosperity.