Editing Nablus (section)

==Local government==
The city of Nablus is the ''muhfaza'' (seat) of the [[Nablus Governorate]], and is governed by a municipal council made up of fifteen elected members, including the mayor.<ref name="NMMC">{{cite web|url=http://www.nablus.org/en/htm/aboutus/municipal_council.htm |title=Nablus Municipal Council |access-date=2008-04-24 |publisher=Nablus Municipality }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The two primary political parties in the municipal council are [[Hamas]] and [[Fatah]]. In the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections, the Reform and Change list representing the Hamas faction won 73.4% of the vote, gaining the majority of the municipal seats (13). Palestine Tomorrow, representing Fatah, gained the remaining two seats with 13.0% of the vote. Other political parties, such as the [[Palestinian People's Party]] and the [[Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] failed to gain any seats in the council, though they each received over 1,000 votes.<ref name="Results">{{cite web |url=http://www.elections.ps/admin/pdf/Municipal_Elections_Results_EN_(4).pdf |title=2005 Palestinian Local Elections, round 4 |access-date=2010-08-21 |publisher=Higher Commission for Local Elections }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Yaish's four-year term legally expired in December 2009. While elections in the West Bank were scheduled for 17 July 2010, they were canceled because of Fatah's lack of agreement on list of candidates. Nablus was one of the most important municipalities where Fatah failed to resolve internal conflicts that resulted in two competing Fatah lists: one headed by former mayor [[Ghassan Shakaa]] and one headed by Amin Makboul.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=117616#axzz0xEaOeWPj |title=A Palestinian election is aborted, again |publisher=Daily Star |access-date=2010-08-21 }}</ref>

In the October 2012 municipal elections, Hamas boycotted the polls, protesting the holding of elections while reconciliation efforts with Fatah were at a standstill. Former mayor Ghassan Shakaa, a former local Fatah leader, won the vote as an independent against Fatah member Amin Makboul and another independent candidate.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Lynfield |title=Hamas election boycott leaves West Bank Palestinians with only one choice |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1006/Hamas-election-boycott-leaves-West-Bank-Palestinians-with-only-one-choice |publisher=The Christian Science Monitor |date=2012-10-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Danny |last=Whatmough |url=http://nablus.dannywhatmough.com/2012/10/21/west-bank-elections-demonstrate-extent-of-political-divide/ |title=West Bank elections demonstrate extent of political divide |date=2012-10-21 |access-date=25 March 2014 |archive-date=25 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325052749/http://nablus.dannywhatmough.com/2012/10/21/west-bank-elections-demonstrate-extent-of-political-divide/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Mayors===
{{Main|List of mayors of Nablus}}
Modern mayorship in Nablus began in 1869 with the appointment of Sheikh Mohammad Tuffaha by the Ottoman governor of Syria/Palestine. On 2 July 1980, [[Bassam Shakaa]], then mayor of Nablus, lost both of his legs as a result of a [[car bombing]] carried out by Israeli militants affiliated with the [[Gush Emunim Underground]] movement.<ref name="haaretz">{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=600596 |first=Danny |last=Rubenstein |author-link=Danny Rubenstein |title=Fighting words/Far from the madding crowd |access-date=2008-04-24 |publisher=Haaretz}}</ref>

The current mayor, [[Adly Yaish]], a Hamas member, was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces in May 2007, during [[Operation Summer Rains]], launched in retaliation for the kidnapping of Israeli soldier [[Gilad Shalit]] by Hamas.<ref name="ynet">{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3403756,00.html |title=Palestinians report IDF forces raid Nablus overnight in arrest operation, taking 33 Hamas leaders into custody, including PA minister of education, mayors of Nablus, Qalqiliya |access-date=2008-04-24 |last=Waked |first=Ali |date=24 May 2007 |work=Ynet News |publisher=Yedioth Internet}}</ref> Municipal council members Abdel Jabbar Adel Musa "Dweikat", Majida Fadda, Khulood El-Masri, and Mahdi Hanbali were also arrested.<ref name="NMMC"/> He spent 15 months in prison without being charged.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cicweb.ca/scene/2009/07/globe-mails-patrick-martin-on-the-booming-west-bank/ |title=CIC Scene » Globe & Mail's Patrick Martin on the Booming West Bank |publisher=www.cicweb.ca |access-date=2010-02-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706173636/http://www.cicweb.ca/scene/2009/07/globe-mails-patrick-martin-on-the-booming-west-bank/ |archive-date=2011-07-06 }}</ref>