Nablus was founded by the Romans and its Latin name, Flavia Neapolis, later became the Arabic name Nablus. It has been a hotbed of Palestinian activism, not least because the surrounding hills are occupied by some of the West Banks most hardcore Israeli settlers. The Nablus Library is the oldest and largest public library in the West Bank. It was started with aid from the Jordanian government in the 1960s and is housed in a nineteenth-century Ottoman-era building. The library is filled with striking imagery, including portraits of the former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the famous local poet Ibrahim Tuqan. Lyrics that Tuqan wrote later became the acclaimed song Mawtini (My Homeland), which was Palestines unofficial national anthem for many years. Today, it is widely sung throughout the Arab world by people looking for an anthem to inspire the dream of a better future.