Nablus: Ras al Ain

The Electronic Intifada 6 May 2002

On Thursday 4 April, the Israeli forces bombarded the Al Khadra Mosque during the invasion of the West Bank town of Nablus. They were trying to enter the Old Town through the mosque and destroyed most of it. Al Khadra Mosque is one of the oldest building in Nablus, established in 1187 during the Mamluk era. The beautifully sculpted and inlaid mihrab was destroyed. On May 6, 2002 EI’s Arjan El Fassed visited the neighbourhood where he once lived for two years. Ras al-Ain, the Citadel of the Martyrs, a popular quarter of Nablus was nationally known through “Bloody Friday”. On that day in 1988, hundreds of Nablus residents held a funeral march for the fourteen-year old Ashraf al-Haj who died of a gunshot wound sustained in clashes in the city. Four Palestinians were killed and many more wounded on that day. Among them was eighteen-year old Iyad Hafez al-Hindi. Israeli soldiers, seeing that his head was wrapped in a keffiyeh, forced him against a tree where they shot him pointblank in the head and chest. Three others later died of injuries sustained the same day.
  • View video [1:06 mins, Quicktime file, 3.5MB]

    Camera and Editing: Arjan El Fassed


    SCREENSHOTS

    The destroyed Al-Khadra Mosque (Photo: AEF, 2002)

    Destroyed al-Khadra Mosque (Photo: AEF, 2002)

    View on Ras al-Ain and Khadra Mosque in Nablus (Photo: AEF, 2002)

    Ras al-Ain (Photo: AEF, 2002)

    Nablus prison, used by the Ottomans, the British occupiers, the Israeli occupiers, the Palestinian Authority and destroyed by Israeli occupying forces (Photo: AEF, 2002)

    Related Links:

  • Nablus witnessed 21st century barbarism, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 1 May 2002
  • Nablus: the meaning of state terror, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 28 April 2002
  • Nablus: morality and bodies, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 19 April 2002
  • ‘Nablus, I don’t hear you !’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 8 April 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Creating 3 million potential bombs’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 21 July 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Arrest, demolish, expel the occupation’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 19 July 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Hold it, you’re under (house) arrest!’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 12 July 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Let them shoot me, I am not afraid’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 6 June 2002
  • 104 days of curfew in Nablus, Susan Barclay, Live from Palestine, 8 October 2002
  • Nablus: In Memoriam, Ahmad Khanfa, Ghadeer Shaka’a, Live from Palestine, 8 October 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Our apartment building was occupied’, Yacoub H. Alul, Live from Palestine, 4 October 2002
  • Short memory, history repeats itself, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 23 September 2002
  • Nablus: ‘Can you go to Balata?’, Ala, Live from Palestine, 13 September 2002
  • Nablus: ‘I feel as if I was raped this morning’, Arjan El Fassed, Live from Palestine, 3 August 2002