Nablus, West Bank: Where It Is, Its History and the Cities Around It

Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, about 49 km (31 miles) north of Jerusalem in a straight line. It sits in a valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and is one of the largest cities in the West Bank, with 156,906 residents at the 2017 census.

The city was founded by the Romans in 72 CE as Flavia Neapolis, and its modern name comes from that one. This guide covers where Nablus is, its history, Balata refugee camp on its eastern edge, and how it relates to Ramallah, Hebron and Salfit.

Where is Nablus located?

Nablus lies in the hill country of the northern West Bank, in Palestine. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes it as sitting in an enclosed, fertile valley watered by numerous springs, at one of the few east-west passes through the hills. Mount Gerizim rises to the south of the city and Mount Ebal to the north.

On a map, find Jerusalem and move straight up. Ramallah comes first, about 14 km north of Jerusalem, and Nablus is a further 36 km north of Ramallah. The Mediterranean coast at Tel Aviv is about 47 km to the west.

Nablus is the center of the Nablus governorate, for which the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) projected a population of 415,606 in mid-2021, with 167,931 in the city itself. After the Oslo Accords of the 1990s the city came under the administration of the Palestinian Authority.

• Nablus to Jerusalem: about 49 km (31 miles) in a straight line, roughly 71 km (44 miles) by road.
• Nablus to Ramallah: about 36 km (22 miles) in a straight line, roughly 53 km (33 miles) by road.
• Nablus to Salfit: about 17 km (10 miles) in a straight line, roughly 24 km (15 miles) by road.
• Nablus to Hebron: about 78 km (48 miles) in a straight line, roughly 105 km (65 miles) by road.

Flavia Neapolis: the Roman origin of Nablus

According to Britannica, Nablus was founded under the Roman emperor Vespasian in 72 CE and originally named Flavia Neapolis. "Flavia" refers to Vespasian's family, the Flavian dynasty, and "Neapolis" is Greek for "new city". It was later called Julia Neapolis, or simply Neapolis, and it appears on the 6th-century Madaba mosaic map.

The Arabs took the city in 636 CE, and the name Nablus is the Arabic form of Neapolis. The Crusaders held it from 1099 to 1187 and called it Naples.

Nablus is often equated with the much older Canaanite and biblical city of Shechem, but they are not the same site. Britannica notes that the ruins of Shechem lie at Tell Balata, just east of the present city, with evidence of settlement going back to around 1900 BCE. The Romans built their new city a short distance to the west.

What Nablus is known for

Nablus has long been a market town and a center of trade and crafts. Its best-known product is soap made from olive oil. UNESCO added the tradition of Nabulsi soap making to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024.

The city is home to An-Najah National University, founded in 1977. Its historic sites include the Great Mosque and the al-Nasr Mosque, both built on the remains of Byzantine churches, the old Samaritan quarter, and the traditional site of Jacob's Well. Nablus is also the main center of the small Samaritan community, whose holy place is Mount Gerizim.

Britannica records that the city's history of resistance to outside rule, along with the high ground around it, earned it the nickname Jabal al-Nar, "Mountain of Fire".

Balata refugee camp

Balata, sometimes misspelled "Balatta", is a Palestinian refugee camp on the eastern edge of Nablus, on land belonging to the village of Balata. It was set up in 1950 by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, for families displaced in the 1948 war.

According to the Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question, the camp originally covered 25 hectares (a quarter of a square kilometer) and housed 4,484 refugees in tents. It still occupies roughly the same small area. About 60 percent of residents trace their families to Jaffa, Lydda and villages around them.

Balata holds the largest concentration of refugees in the West Bank. UNRWA's camp profile describes it as the most populous West Bank camp, with more than 33,000 registered refugees. Registration and residence are not the same thing: PCBS projected 15,663 people actually living in the camp in mid-2021. Either way, it is one of the most crowded places in the territory, and overcrowding, unemployment and strained water and sewage systems are long-standing problems.

Nablus and Ramallah

Ramallah is the next major city south of Nablus, on the crest of the hills just north of Jerusalem at an elevation of 872 meters. It adjoins the town of al-Bireh. Britannica notes that Ramallah became the center of Palestinian Authority administration in the West Bank, which is why it appears in the news so often.

On a West Bank map, Ramallah is in the middle, about 14 km (9 miles) north of Jerusalem. Nablus is the main city of the north and the larger of the two. The straight-line distance between them is 36 km, but PCBS counts around 900 checkpoints and gates across the West Bank, and journeys often take much longer than the distance suggests.

Hebron and Salfit on the map

Hebron is at the opposite end of the West Bank, in the southern hills about 30 km (19 miles) south-southwest of Jerusalem and 22 km south of Bethlehem. It stands about 930 meters above sea level and had 201,063 residents in 2017, making it larger than Nablus. Hebron is home to the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham or the Cave of the Patriarchs, and its old town has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2017. Under a 1997 agreement, part of the city is administered by the Palestinian Authority and part remains under Israeli control.

Salfit is a small town between Nablus and Ramallah, about 17 km southwest of Nablus and 20 km north of Ramallah in a straight line. It is the center of the Salfit governorate. PCBS projected 11,873 residents for the town and 82,099 for the governorate in mid-2021.

For how these cities fit into the wider territory, see our guides to how big Palestine is and to settlements in the West Bank. If you are planning a trip, our page on visiting Bethlehem covers routes and travel advice; governments currently advise against travel to parts of the northern West Bank, so check official advice first.

From Nablus to Gaza

Balata is a reminder that displacement in Palestine did not begin recently. The families who arrived in 1950 were housed in tents; their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren still live in the camp. In Gaza, most of the population has been displaced since October 2023, many of them more than once.

Fight for Palestine funds emergency relief in Gaza through local partner teams, including food, clean water, medical aid and shelter. You can read about humanitarian aid in Gaza or donate to support it.