As soon as you throw your tired body over a long day over an iron bed until the space of the room in which you were housed takes you to a beautiful past and stories told in the same place, and others that you may hear when you are free to rest in the reception and drink a cup of coffee or a hot cup of tea, then you will have analyzed A guest in the oldest and oldest hotel in Nablus;
Independence Pension (Small Inn).
The northern facade of the pension, with its wooden windows, palm trees and a beautiful architectural building (the island)
Any visitor to "Little Damascus" Nablus (in the northern West Bank) will not make an effort to be a guide to the Istiklal Pension. Asking any passer in the city center, he will wave saying: There is on the outskirts of Hattin Street near the city’s municipality building, and there you will see a large sign written in broad black name and phone number , And in Arabic and English.
Independence Pension is more than 72 years old (Al Jazeera)
The story of the hotel - which is classified according to the standards of modern tourism as a pension - dates back to 1948, when Ibrahim Eran - who was forcibly displaced by the occupation and his family from his city of Jaffa - transferred 6 rooms built in the Ottoman style and belonged to the Nablus mayors' family to a hotel that continues his profession after the two days long Who were intimidated by the general population of refugees to return home.
Ibrahim Eran, founder and owner of Independence Pension (Al Jazeera)
Jaffa original
In his seventies, Faisal Ayran, the son of Hajj Ibrahim, receives his clients in a large hall in the middle of the pension rooms, and puts his private office at her head, and makes a record whenever necessary to document the inmate's name and ID number, and kindly asks: How many nights will you stay?
From his office, he also supervises the inmates and fulfills their requests as much as possible, so it is customary for coffee and tea to be provided for free, and food is not on the services list.
Before the Nakba, Haji Ibrahim, Faisal's father, owned and operated 4 hotels;
There are two in Jaffa. They are Istiqlal, which includes 48 rooms, in the market of the monastery, and Zahrat al-Sham, which contains 42 rooms, on Nozha Street.
In addition to two other hotels in Haifa, which Faisal does not mention and did not visit.
An old safe that Haji Ibrahim Eran brought with him from Jaffa (Al-Jazeera)
Faisal's father left Jaffa, closing the doors of his hotels with bricks and shackling them with iron, as if he realized that returning is not "two days and we will return" as it was said, and it remained unchanged, so that the occupation classified it as "absent property," which is in fact present but is forbidden from returning.
Eran the son says, who was affected by an ancient past in their hotel and a difficult situation restricted by the procedures of the Ministry of Tourism due to the Corona pandemic:
He inherited the hotel from his father, and he worked with him after the emigration by establishing a pension in Nablus, which had only 3 hotels.
The internal hall connecting the rooms of the pension (the island)
'The peasant of the revolution'
At that time, most of the inmates were Arab merchants, from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Morocco, as well as foreign and other local inmates who were kept in the records kept in the "Sadah" (upper store) pension, and they sometimes exceeded 30 guests per night.
The pension still maintains its old tradition (the island)
Eran recalls one of them, disguised as a peasant coming from the countryside, and the truth is that it was the late President Yasser Arafat (Abu Ammar), who "slept in the campus at the end of the sixties of the last century when Nablus came to support the rebels," and he also landed there from Gaza, Musa al-Qudwa He is the uncle of President Abu Ammar.
Throughout history, the khans appeared in Nablus, especially in the Ottoman era, and were used as markets and to receive commercial caravans, as well as hotel sleepers, the oldest of which was Khan al-Manara in 1567, then Khan al-Furukhiya (relative to Farrukh Pasha Tassi), and the Khan al-Wakala, which was restored years ago and became a hotel and a tourist restaurant.
The pension is popular and provides the required services to customers (the island)
However, the "Independence Pension" preserved its heritage as one of the oldest popular hotels in Nablus during the British Mandate period, according to Hassan Shtayyeh, director of the Nablus Tourism Ministry office, as the secret of the residence lies in its "tradition and originality until now."
The front facade of the pension that overlooks the main street in the city (the island)
Heritage and authenticity
A few stairs at the main street lead to the Istiklal Pension, and overlooks the beauty of its construction, especially its colorful Nabulsi tiles, stone walls and geometric motifs in two circular rings above its northern façades where the Nablus municipality building, and the western one overlooking the heavenly square, palm trees and sapphire orange (also called poppy or orange) Which Nablus people add to some of their food makes it more special.
Sapphire orange tree in the courtyard outside (the island)
In the pension there are some old possessions that Faisal's father brought from Jaffa, and are still in existence, such as a large mirror and a wooden desk with a picture of the owner of the pension Ibrahim Ayran and an iron safe in the middle of the hall, or the "lobby" named after modern hotels.
In the pension there is a large mirror of old possessions brought by Faisal's father from Jaffa that is still present (Al-Jazeera)
As for the windows, they are another masterpiece, and some are wooden from the age of the building, and others were replaced by aluminum after the Israeli army destroyed it during its frequent incursions into the hotel.
A wooden desk with a picture of the owner of the pension Ibrahim Ayran, who brought it from Jaffa (Al-Jazeera)
Khaled Khandakji has been in the pension from time to time for more than 40 years, and says that the building has maintained its pattern until the moment as a popular hotel and a heritage landmark, but its location exposed it to targeting the Israeli occupation during its incursions into the city.
He added to Al-Jazeera Net that the pension is a "treasure", and the competent authorities must preserve it and support its steadfastness by supporting the efforts of those in charge of it to keep pace with developments and improve its services to meet the needs of customers.
An interior hall for the pension, which preserves its tradition of ancient Nablus colored tiles (the island)
The pension operates on a specific system, and Faisal and two of his sons exchange work hours, especially arranging and general supervision, and Faisal's son Ahmed says that they have added new services such as cooling and television, although prices remain the same, as they are few compared to modern hotels where the price per night is about 10 times the pension .
The pension rooms are distinguished by their simplicity and old tradition (the island)
From 10 piasters (less than a quarter of a US dollar), the overnight fee in the pension has been in the pension since its inception, to less than 9 dollars, after more than 70 years, despite the doubling of its rent from 400 Jordanian dinars to about two thousand (3 thousand US dollars) annually, and they pay taxes Like any other tourist facility.
Grandson Faisal Ayran is keen to preserve the pension (Al-Jazeera)
Simplicity of service
Eran the grandson tells us, as we move between the rooms of the pension, that they are carrying out the necessary and simple repairs to the pension, such as painting its walls to avoid breaching the terms of the lease, which may lose their project and their dream of life.
These services, "despite their simplicity," very much admire the young man, Muawiya Badiri, and find comfort in the pension as he enjoys "a calm sleep, good treatment and privacy," as well as the right price.
A water fountain built by Faisal Ayran in the celestial square for the Mansion (Al-Jazeera)
Badiri used to spend his night 70 or 80, and as he told us he does not quite mention that he has known the pension for more than 20 years, and he comes every now and then, and they receive him even late and after midnight.
In front of investment attempts that affected the old cinema building adjacent to the Independence Mansion, and led to its demolition;
Faisal Ayran stands up in his hotel and keeps it until his last breath. He does not even carry a cell phone and prefers to keep communicating with him by the pension's landline.