Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a
Palestinian city in the central
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the
State of Palestine
Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), Legal status of the State of Palestine, officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state (polity), state located in Western Asia. Officiall ...
. It is situated on the
Judaean Mountains
The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...
, north of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, at an average elevation of above sea level, adjacent to
al-Bireh.
Ramallah has buildings containing masonry from the period of
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...
, but no complete building predates the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
of the 11th century.
The modern city was founded during the 16th century by the Hadadeens, an
Arab Christian
Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...
clan descended from
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...
. In 1517, the city was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, and in 1920, it became part of
British Mandatory Palestine after it was
captured by the United Kingdom during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
The
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
saw the entire West Bank, including Ramallah,
occupied and annexed by
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to:
* Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River
* Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan
* Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946)
* Hashemite Kingdom of ...
. Ramallah was later captured by
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in the 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
. Since the 1995
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; , Ramallah has been governed by the PNA as part of
Area A of the West Bank.
In recent years, Ramallah has emerged as a key political, cultural, and economic center.
It houses various Palestinian governmental bodies, including the
Mukataa
:''See ''Muqata'ah'' for the Ottoman instrument for financing state expenses. ''
:''This article deals mainly with the Mukataa of Ramallah.''
Mukataʿa ( ar, المقاطعة al-muqāṭaʿah) is an Arabic word for headquarters or administrative ...
, the official residence of the
President of the Palestinian National Authority, the
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...
, and the headquarters of the
Palestinian Security Services. It is also home to several museums and cultural centers, and has a notable nightlife scene. While historically a predominantly Christian town,
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s constituted a majority of Ramallah's 38,998 residents by 2017,
[التعداد العام للسكان 2017](_blank)
- الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني with Christians making up a significant minority.
History
Ancient times
Ancient rock-cut tombs have been found near Ramallah. Located just south of the built-up area is
Tell en-Nasbeh, an
archeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
where biblical
Mizpah in Benjamin is likely to have been located.
Several Ramallah buildings
incorporate masonry dating back to the reign of
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...
(37-4 BCE).
Crusader period
Potsherd
In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well.
Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...
s from the
Crusader/
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
and early Ottoman period have also been found there.
Ramallah has been identified with the
Crusader place called ''Ramalie''. Remains of a building with an
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
ed doorway from the Crusader era, called ''al-Burj,'' have been identified, but the original use of the building is undetermined.
Ottoman era
Ramallah was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in 1517 with all of
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. In 1596 it was listed in the
tax registers as being in the ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' of Quds, part of the ''
Liwa of Quds.'' It had a population of 71 Christian households and 9
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
households. It paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on wheat, barley, olives, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 9,400
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
. All of the revenue went to a
waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
.
Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-1500s by the Haddadins (also: Haddad''ee''n), a clan of brothers descended from
Ghassanid
The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
. The Haddadins (ancestors of the present-day Jadallah family, among others), and their leader Rashid El-Haddadin, arrived from east of the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
from the areas of
Karak Karak may refer to:
Places
* Al-Karak or Kerak, city and Crusader castle in Jordan
** Karak Governorate, Jordan
* al-Karak, Syria, city in Syria's Daraa Governorate
* Karak Nuh, village in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
* Karak, Iran (disambiguation) ...
and
Shoubak.
The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area.
Haddadin was attracted to the mountainous site of Ramallah because it was similar to the other mountainous areas he came from. In addition, the heavily forested area could supply him with plenty of fuel for his forges.
In 1838 American biblical scholar
Edward Robinson visited the area, noting that the inhabitants were Christian "of the Greek rite". There were 200 taxable men, which gives an estimated total population of 800–900 people. The village "belonged" to the
Haram al-Sharif
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew language, Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy
F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...
, also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al- ...
, Jerusalem, to which it paid an annual tax of 350 Mids of grain.
In 1883, the
PEF's ''
Survey of Western Palestine'' described Ramallah as
A large Christian village, of well-built stone houses, standing on a high ridge, with a view on the west extending to the sea. It stands amongst gardens and olive-yards, and has three springs to the south and one on the west; on the north there are three more, within a mile from the village. On the east there is a well. There are rock-cut tombs to the north-east with well-cut entrances, but completely blocked with rubbish. In the village is a Greek church, and on the east a Latin convent and a Protestant schoolhouse, all modern buildings. The village lands are Wakuf, or ecclesiastical property, belonging to the Haram of Jerusalem. About a quarter of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, the rest Orthodox Greeks.
In the 21st century, a large community of people with direct descent from the Haddadins who founded Ramallah live in the United States. The town is now predominately Muslim, but still contains a Christian minority. The change in demographics is due mostly to new migration of Muslims to the area, and emigration of Christians from the area.
Christian presence
![2010-08 Ramallah 39](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/2010-08_Ramallah_39.jpg)
Ramallah grew dramatically throughout the 17th and 18th centuries as an agricultural village, attracting more (predominantly Christian) inhabitants from all around the region. In 1700, Yacoub Elias was the first Ramallah native to be ordained by the Eastern Greek Melkite Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, the Christian denomination that prevailed in the Holy Land at the time. In the early 19th century, the first Greek Melkite Jerusalemite Orthodox Christian church was built. Later, in 1852, the
Greek Orthodox Church of Transfiguration, was built to replace it; it is the sole
Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church may refer to:
* Eastern Orthodox Church
* Oriental Orthodox Churches
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
* State church of the Roman Empire
* True Orthodox church
See also
* Orthodox (dis ...
in Ramallah today. There is also a Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church in Ramallah, built in 1895.
The
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
also established its presence in Ramallah the 19th century and constitutes today the second largest Christian denomination in the city. The Roman Catholic Church established the St. Joseph's Girls' School run by St. Joseph sisters, as well as the co-educational Al-Ahliyyah College high school runs by Rosary sisters. In 1913, construction of the Catholic
Holy Family Church was started.
Currently, Ramallah also has a
Coptic Church, an
Evangelical Lutheran Church and an
Episcopalian (Anglican) Church.
In the 19th century, the
Religious Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
(
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
) established a presence in Ramallah and built the
Ramallah Friends Schools
The Ramallah Friends Schools are two private schools founded by Quakers in the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank. The Friends Girls' School was inaugurated in 1869; the construction of the Friends Boys' School began in 1901 and the school opened ...
, one for girls and later a boys' school, to alleviate the dearth of education for women and girls. Eli and Sybil Jones opened "The Girls Training Home of Ramallah" in 1869. A medical clinic was established in 1883, with Dr. George Hassenauer serving as the first doctor in Ramallah. In 1889, the girls academy became the Friends Girls School (FGS). As the FGS was also a boarding school, it attracted a number of girls from surrounding communities, including Jerusalem,
Lydda,
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
, and
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. The Friends Boys School (FBS) was founded in 1901 and opened in 1918. The Quakers opened a Friends Meeting House for worship in the city center in 1910. According to the school's official website, most high school students choose to take the International Baccalaureate exams (IBE) instead of the traditional "Tawjihi" university exams.
![Ramallah, Quaker Mission School](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Ramallah%2C_Quaker_Mission_School._Photographed_in_1937_LOC_matpc.09098.jpg)
The activity of foreign churches in Palestine in the late 19th century increased awareness of prosperity in the West. In Ramallah and
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, a few miles south, local residents began to seek economic opportunity overseas. In 1901, merchants from Ramallah emigrated to the United States and established import-export businesses, selling handmade rugs and other exotic wares across the Atlantic. Increased trade dramatically improved living standards for Ramallah's inhabitants. American cars, mechanized farming equipment, radios, and later televisions became attainable luxuries for upper-class families. As residents of Jaffa and
Lod
Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...
moved to Ramallah, the balance of Muslims and Christians began to change.
Ramallah was declared a modern city in 1908. It had an elected municipality as well as partnership projects with the adjacent town of
al-Bireh.
The Friends Boys School became a temporary hospital during World War I.
British Mandate
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
captured and
occupied
' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...
Ramallah in December 1917. The city remained occupied until the designation of the
Palestine Mandate
The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The mandate ...
in 1920, resulting in Ramallah falling under
British Mandatory control until 1948. In the 1920s, the economy of Ramallah started to improve, resulting in the local Arab
upper class (consisting primarily of landowners and merchants) ordering the construction of several multi-storied villas, many of which still stand today. In 1939, the
Jerusalem Electric Company introduced electricity to Ramallah, and a majority of the city's homes became wired shortly thereafter. On the same year, the British Mandatory authorities inaugurated the state-owned
Palestine Broadcasting Service
The Palestine Broadcasting Service (PBS) was the state-owned radio broadcasting station that operated from Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel and Palestinian territories) With the main transmitter in Ramallah. It operated from March 1936 un ...
in Ramallah, with
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
members training local radio staff to deliver daily broadcasts in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. The station was later renamed
Jerusalem Calling.
In 1936, an
Arab revolt against the British Mandate broke out in Palestine, and Ramallah soon became a center of insurgent activity. The rebels subsequently established a
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
near Ramallah, in order to provide legal alternatives to the courts of the British Mandate. One British schoolteacher noted that the Ramallah court judge began to produce "news sheets on typewriters and duplicators, aimed at publicizing the alternative rebel regime."
Jordanian era
![Ramallah Residential](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Ramallah_Residential.JPG)
Following the
creation of the State of Israel
The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive ...
and the
ensuing conflict, Jordan seized the part of Palestine they named the West Bank. This included Ramallah. The West Bank was relatively peaceful during the years of
Jordanian rule
The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem divi ...
between 1948 and 1967, with its residents enjoying freedom of movement between the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, Jordan,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, and Syria. Jordan annexed the West Bank, applying its national law to the conquered territory. However, many Palestinians were jailed for being members of "illegal political parties", which included the
Palestine Communist Party and other socialist and pro-independence groups. By 1953, Ramallah's population had doubled, but the economy and infrastructure could not accommodate the influx of poor villagers. Natives of Ramallah began to emigrate, primarily to the United States. By 1956, about one fourth of Ramallah's 6,000 natives had left, with Arabs from the surrounding towns and villages (particularly
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
) buying the homes and land the émigrés left behind.
Israeli era
![2018 OCHA OpT map Ramallah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/2018_OCHA_OpT_map_Ramallah.jpg)
During the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
in 1967,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
captured Ramallah from Jordan, imposing a military closure and conducting a census a few weeks later. Every person registered in the census was given an Israeli identity card which allowed the bearer to continue to reside there. Those who were abroad during the census lost their residency rights. For residents of Ramallah, the situation had now been reversed. For the first time in 19 years, residents could freely visit Israel and the
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...
and engage in commerce there.
Unlike the Jordanians, Israel did not offer citizenship to the residents. Ramallah residents were issued permits to work in Israel, but did not gain the rights associated with Israeli citizenship. The city remained under Israeli military rule for more than four decades.
The
Israeli Civil Administration
The Civil Administration ( he, המנהל האזרחי, '; ar, الإدارة المدنية الإسرائيلية) is the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. It was established by the government of Israel in 1981, in order ...
(CA), established in 1981, was in charge of civilian and day-to-day services such as issuing permission to travel, build, export or import, and host relatives from abroad. The CA reprinted Jordanian textbooks for distribution in schools but did not update them. The CA was in charge of tax collection and land expropriation, which sometimes included Israeli seizure of olive groves that Arab villagers had tended for generations.
According to the Israeli Human Rights activists, the development of Jewish settlements in the Ramallah area, such as
Beit El
Beit El or Beth El ( he, בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town was settled in 1977-78 by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim. It is located in ...
and
Psagot
Psagot ( he, פְּסָגוֹת, ''lit.'' Peaks) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, located on Tawil hill, adjacent to the State of Palestine, Palestinian cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh. Established in 1981, it is organised as a commun ...
, prevented the expansion of the city and cut it off from the surrounding Arab villages. As resistance increased, Ramallah residents who were members of the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...
were jailed or deported to neighboring countries. In December 1987, the popular uprising known as the
Intifada erupted, protesting against the continued
Israeli occupation
Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...
.
First Intifada
Ramallah residents were among the early joiners of the First Intifada. The Intifada Unified Leadership, an umbrella organization of various Palestinian factions, distributed weekly bulletins on the streets of Ramallah with a schedule of the daily protests, strikes and action against Israeli patrols in the city. At the demonstrations, tires were burned in the street, and the crowds threw stones and
Molotov cocktails. The
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Schools in Ramallah were forcibly shut down, and opened gradually for a few hours a day. The Israelis conducted house arrests, imposing curfews that restricted travel and exports in what Palestinians regarded as collective punishment. In response to the closure of schools, residents organized home schooling sessions to help students make up missed material; this became one of the few symbols of civil disobedience. The Intifada leadership organized "tree plantings" and resorted to the tactics used in pre-1948 Palestine, such as ordering general strikes in which no commercial businesses were allowed to open and no cars were allowed on the streets.
In 1991, the Palestinian delegation to the
Madrid International Peace Conference included many notables from Ramallah. As the Intifada wound down and the peace process moved forward, normal life in Ramallah resumed. On September 13, 1993 Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Leader
Yasser Arafat shook hands at a meeting at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. Schoolchildren in Ramallah handed out olive branches to Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets. In December 1995, in keeping with the
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; , the Israeli army abandoned the
Mukataa
:''See ''Muqata'ah'' for the Ottoman instrument for financing state expenses. ''
:''This article deals mainly with the Mukataa of Ramallah.''
Mukataʿa ( ar, المقاطعة al-muqāṭaʿah) is an Arabic word for headquarters or administrative ...
and withdrew to the city outskirts. The newly established
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, assumed civilian and security responsibility for the city, which was designated "Area A" under the accords.
Palestinian Authority rule
1990s
The years between 1993 and 2000 (known locally as the "Oslo Years") brought relative prosperity to Ramallah. Ramallah and its immediate environs were classified as
Area A
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...
in the
Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; , under full civil and security control of the
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, (PA) administration in September 1995. Many expatriates returned to establish businesses there, and the atmosphere was one of optimism. In 2000, unemployment began to rise and the economy of Ramallah declined. The
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
remained in control of the territories and its government did not restore the freedom of movement enjoyed by Ramallah residents prior to the first Intifada. Travel to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
required special permits. The number and size of
Israeli settlement
Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...
s around Ramallah increased dramatically. A network of bypass roads for use of Israeli citizens only was built around Ramallah, and Israel expropriated land for settlements.
Many official documents previously handled by the Israeli Civil Administration were now handled by the Palestinian Authority but still required Israeli approval. A Palestinian passport issued to Ramallah residents was not valid unless the serial number was registered with the Israeli authorities, who controlled border crossings. The failure of the
Camp David summit in July 2000 led to the outbreak of the
Second Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
(al-Aqsa Intifada) in September 2000.
Second Intifada
Young Ramallah residents demonstrated daily against the Israeli army, with marches to the Israeli checkpoints at the outskirts of the city. Over time, the marches were replaced by sporadic use of live ammunition against Israeli soldiers; and various attacks targeting Jewish settlers, particularly on the Israeli-only bypass roads. Army checkpoints were established to restrict movement in and out of Ramallah.
On October 12, 2000, two Israeli army reservists, Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami were
lynched in Ramallah. They had taken a wrong turn, and were set upon by a mob, enraged in particular by the
Muhammad al-Durrah incident
On 30 September 2000, the second day of the Second Intifada, 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah () was killed in the Gaza Strip during widespread protests and riots across the Palestinian territories against Israeli occupation of the West Bank ...
in Gaza. A frenzied crowd killed the two IDF reservists, mutilated their bodies, and dragged them through the streets. Later that afternoon, the Israeli army carried out an air strike on Ramallah, demolishing the police station. Israel later succeeded in capturing and prosecuting some of those involved in the deaths of the reservists.
The IDF has occasionally operated inside Ramallah, in breach of the 1995 Oslo Accords. The first and largest incursion was the 2002
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation "Defensive Shield" ( he, מִבְצָע חוֹמַת מָגֵן, ''Mivtza Homat Magen'', literally "Operation Shield Wall") was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002 during the Second Intifada ...
, with a more recent intervention coming in March 2017 while attempting to arrest a suspected terrorist.
In 2002, the army imposed curfews, electricity cuts, school closures and disruptions of commercial life. Many Ramallah institutions, including government ministries, were vandalized, and equipment was destroyed or stolen. The IDF took over local Ramallah television stations, and social and economic conditions deteriorated. Many expatriates left, as did many other Palestinians who complained that the living conditions had become intolerable. Construction of the
Israeli West Bank barrier has added to Ramallah's isolation.
File:Israeli West-Bank barrier Ramallah.jpg, Israeli West Bank barrier near Ramallah
File:Ramallah Arrafat.jpeg, Tomb of Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat established his West Bank headquarters, the
Mukataa
:''See ''Muqata'ah'' for the Ottoman instrument for financing state expenses. ''
:''This article deals mainly with the Mukataa of Ramallah.''
Mukataʿa ( ar, المقاطعة al-muqāṭaʿah) is an Arabic word for headquarters or administrative ...
, in Ramallah. Although considered an interim solution, Ramallah became the ''de facto'' capital of the Palestinian Authority, now officially known as the State of Palestine. It hosts almost all governmental headquarters. In December 2001, Arafat held meetings at the Mukataa, but lived with his wife and daughter in
Gaza City
Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...
. After suicide bombings in
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, Arafat was confined to the Ramallah compound. In 2002, the compound was partly demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces and Arafat's building was cut off from the rest of the compound.
![Ramallah Muqata'a 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Ramallah_Muqata%27a_2013.jpg)
On November 11, 2004 Arafat died at the
Percy training hospital of the Armies near Paris. He was buried in the courtyard of the Mukataa on November 12, 2004. The site still serves as the Ramallah headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, as well the official West Bank office of
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Natio ...
. Throughout 2005, while the
Disengagement Plan was underway, some US government officials suggested to the Palestinian leadership to move the provisional capital back to Gaza, where it had been when the Palestinian Authority was first established in 1994. President Abbas, however, refrained from doing so, arguing that at this point, it was important to keep the administrative center in the West Bank in order to remind the international community that the West Bank was still awaiting a territorial solution.
Economic rehabilitation
In December 2005, local elections were held in Ramallah in which candidates from three different factions competed for the 15-seat municipal council for a four-year term. The council elected
Janet Mikhail
Janet Mikhail ( ar, جانيت ميخائيل; born 1945) or Janet Michael, sometimes known as Janet Khouri (جانيت خوري) is the former mayor of Ramallah in the West Bank.
She is the first woman to hold this post. She was head teacher ...
as mayor, the first woman to hold the post.
Munir Hamdan, a member of
Fatah
Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...
and a Ramallah businessman, discussed the concentration of government offices with a journalist. He said, "The president and prime minister have their offices here.
[ So do the parliament and all the government ministries", representing a "collusion" between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to turn Ramallah into the political as well as the financial capital of the Palestinians. He is particularly worried by the construction of a large new governmental complex by the PA.][ Hatem Abdel Kader, a Jerusalem resident, Fatah legislator and former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, complained that "If they are building a new government compound here, that means they have no plans to be based in Jerusalem... Unfortunately, the Palestinian government of ]Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad ( ar, سلام فياض, ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a Jordanian-Palestinian politician and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and Finance Minister.
He was Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and ...
has abandoned Jerusalem in favor of Ramallah."[
Many foreign nations have located their diplomatic missions to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, including, , Argentina, Australia, Austria, Korea, South Africa, Norway, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, China, Poland, Portugal, The Netherlands, Russia, Jordan, Brazil, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, India, Japan, the Czech Republic, Canada and Mexico.]["'Palestine's new bride'"]
, Khaled Abu Toameh, ''Jerusalem Post,'' 20 August 2010
In November 2011, king Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...
visited Ramallah for the first time since 2000.
Geography and climate
This area enjoys a Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
climate of a dry summer and mild, rainy winter with occasional snowfall. The recorded average of Ramallah's rainfall is about and minimum rainfall is and maximum rainfall is .
The Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
places Ramallah in the Csa
CSA may refer to:
Arts and media
* Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
* Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics
* Crime Syndicate of Amer ...
category. Climates of this class generally occur on the western sides of continents between the latitudes of 30° and 45°. These climates are in the polar front region in winter, and thus have moderate temperatures and changeable, rainy weather. Summers are hot and dry, due to the domination of the subtropical high pressure systems, except in the immediate coastal areas, where summers are milder due to the nearby presence of cold ocean currents that may bring fog but prevent rain.
File:Ramallah4.JPG, A View from Ramallah.
File:Judean Hills from Ramallah.jpg, View of the Hills surrounding Ramallah.
File:Koppen World Map (Mediterranean Sea area only).png, Map of Mediterranean with the Köppen Climate Classifications: Csa & Csb are noted in Yellow.
Economy
Ramallah has been described as the seat of power of the Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, and serves as the headquarters for most international NGOs and embassies. Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid flowing into the city have boosted Ramallah's economy greatly since the end of the Second Intifada
The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. ...
.
The Ramallah construction boom is one of the most obvious signs of West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
economic growth, estimated at an annual rate of 8 percent. This has been attributed to relative stability and Western donor support to the Palestinian Authority. Ramallah's buoyant economy continues to draw Palestinians from other West Bank towns where jobs are fewer. The built-up area has grown fivefold since 2002.
By 2010, Ramallah had become the leading center of economic and political activity in the territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority.[ During a building boom in the early years of the 21st century, apartment buildings and "five-star" hotels were erected, particularly in the Al-Masyoun neighborhood.][ In 2010, "more than one hundred" Palestinian businesses were reported to have moved to Ramallah from ]East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel.
Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
, because "Here they pay less taxes and have more customers."[ One local boasted to a journalist that "Ramallah is becoming the de facto capital of Palestine."][ This boast was seconded by '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' which, in 2010, called Ramallah the "de facto capital of the West Bank.[Michael T. Luongo, "Ramallah Attracts a Cosmopolitan Crowd"]
, June 3, 2010, ''The New York Times''. According to Sani Meo, the publisher of ''This Week in Palestine
''This Week in Palestine'' is a monthly magazine that covers cultural, social, and political issues in Palestine. It is published by Sani Meo and has been in regular print since December 1998. Its self-imposed mandate is to promote and document ...
,'' "Capital or no capital, Ramallah has done well and Palestine is proud of its achievements."[ Some Palestinians allege that Ramallah's prosperity is part of an Israeli "conspiracy" to make Ramallah the capital of a Palestinian state, instead of ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.[
ASAL technologies, an information technology company in Ramallah, has 120 employees and is looking forward to "exponential growth".
File:Ramallah Moevenpick.jpg, Mövenpick Hotel Ramallah.
File:Dunia-trade-center.JPG, Dunia trade center under construction, June 2010
File:Bank Of Palestine - Ramallah.jpg, Bank of Palestine's head office in Ramallah
]
Demographics
An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Ramallah had 249 houses and a population of 635, though the population count included men only. The village was described as being in the ''Bire'' area,"north of Mikhmas, on a rocky hill."[Socin, 1879, p]
158
the population count is given with a "?"[Ben-Arieh, 1985, p]
90
In 1896, the population of Ramallah was estimated to be about 2,061 persons.[
In the ]1922 census of Palestine
The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922.
The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divisi ...
conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ramallah had a population of 3,104; 2,972 Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, 125 Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s, and 10 Jews,[Barron, 1923, p]
16
/ref> where the Christians were 2,162 Orthodox, 1 Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
(Jacobite), 332 Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, 144 Greek Catholic ( Melkite Catholic), 211 Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, and 122 "other".[Barron, 1923, p]
45
/ref> The population increased at the time of the 1931 census to 4,286, with 3,766 Christians, 519 Muslims and 1 Jew, in a total of 1014 houses.[Mills, 1932, p]
50
/ref>
In the 1945 statistics, the population stood at 5,080, with Christians forming the majority of the population. However, the demographic makeup of the town changed drastically between 1948 and 1967, when considerable emigration of Christians took place. Slightly more than half of the city's 12,134 inhabitants were Christian by 1967, the other half Muslim.
Ramallah's population drastically decreased in the late 20th century from 24,722 inhabitants in 1987 to 17,851 in 1997. In the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official
statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...
(PCBS) census in 1997, Palestinian refugee
Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...
s accounted for 60.3% of the population, which was 17,851. There were 8,622 males and 9,229 females. People younger than 20 years of age made up 45.9% of the population, while those aged between 20 and 64 were 45.4%, and residents aged over 64 constituted 4.7%.
Only in 2005 did the population reach more than 24,000. In a PCBS projection in 2006, Ramallah had a population of 25,467 inhabitants. In the 2007 PCBS census, there were 27,460 people living in the city.[2007 PCBS Census]
. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p.114. (Arabic) Sources vary about the current Christian population in the city, ranging around 25%.
Health
In the aftermath of the 1936–39 Arab revolt, the Ramallah Hospital Foundation was established and registered as a tax exempt organization in New York in 1944. It bought large pieces of land in the south-eastern fringes of the city dedicated for the future hospital. In 1963 a hospital was opened. The present Ramallah Government Hospital and the Palestine Medical Centered are located on the land purchased by the Foundation. In January 1987 the first open-heart surgery was performed at the Hospital under the direction of Dr. Shehadeh (Shawki) Harb, a Palestinian surgeon trained in the United States.
Religious institutions
The Jamal Abdel Nasser Mosque
Jamal Abdel Nasser Mosque ( ar, مسجد جمال عبد الناصر ''Masjid Jamal 'Abd an-Nasser'') is the largest mosque in al-Bireh, West Bank, State of Palestine, Palestine. Located in the Downtown district of the city, the mosque is named ...
is one of the city's largest. The Orthodox Church of Ramallah
The Greek Orthodox Church of Transfiguration in Ramallah was inaugurated in 1852. The Basilica is of Byzantine style. The church contains sacred utensils and old icons, some of which date back to 1830 and were transferred to the church after the d ...
, an Orthodox Christian
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
, Melkite Catholic Church
el, Μελχιτική Ελληνική Καθολική Εκκλησία
, image = Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Damascus, Syria.jpg
, imagewidth = 200px
, alt =
, caption =
, abbreviatio ...
, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arab Episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
(Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
) Church, Ramallah Local Church (Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
\Born Again
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...
) and Ramallah Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
Church all operate schools in the city.[ Information in text is gathered by several links in the "Religion in Ramallah" page.] A large new church has been built on top of one of the highest hills of Ramallah, belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church. A small group of Jehovah Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ev ...
are present in the area as well and others.
During the annual "Saturday of Light" religious festival (which occurs on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday to commemorate the light that tradition holds shone from the tomb of Jesus), the scouts hold a parade through the city streets to receive the flame from Jerusalem. (The flame is ignited in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
and is passed on through candles and lanterns to regional churches.) A variety of mosques and churches of different denominations dot the landscape.
File:2010-08 Ramallah 59.jpg, A Coptic
Coptic may refer to:
Afro-Asia
* Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya
* Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century
* Coptic alphabet ...
church in Ramallah.
File:2010-08 Ramallah 55.jpg, An entrance to a Ramallah Church.
File:2010-08 Ramallah 08.jpg, An old Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
church in Ramallah.
File:2010-08 Ramallah 14.jpg, A Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
mosque in Ramallah.
Culture
Ramallah is generally considered the most affluent and cultural, as well as the most liberal, of all Palestinian cities, and is home to a number of popular Palestinian activists, poets, artists, and musicians
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
. It boasts a lively nightlife, with many restaurants including the Stars and Bucks Cafe, a branch of the Tche Tche
Tche Tche café (stylized as TCHETCHE) is an Amman, Jordan-based coffeehouse chain. It started as a small cafe in Amman, Jordan in 1998, and became so popular that it grew to 28 outlets spread all over the Middle East region. As Jordan's mo ...
Cafe and the Orjuwan Lounge, described in 2010 as two among the "dozens of fancy restaurants, bars and discotheques that have cropped up in Ramallah in the last three years".[
One hallmark of Ramallah is Rukab's Ice Cream, which is based on the resin of chewing gum and thus has a distinctive taste. Another is the First Ramallah Group, a boy- and girl-scout club that also holds a number of traditional dance (]Dabka
''Dabke'' ( ar, دبكة also spelled ''dabka'', ''dubki'', ''dabkeh'', plural ''dabkaat'') is a Levant, Levantine Arab folk dances, Arab folk dance. Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyo ...
) performances and is also home to men's and women's basketball teams that compete regionally. International music and dance troupes occasionally make a stop in Ramallah, and the renowned Argentinian-Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
performs there often. The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a popular venue for such events. The Al-Kasaba Theatre
Al-Kasaba Theatre and Cinematheque ( ar, القصبة مسرح وسينماتك) is a cinema in the city of Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine. It was established in 1970 during Israeli occupation for playwrights and eventually began presenting films. ...
is a venue for plays and movies. In 2004, the state-of-the art Ramallah Cultural Palace opened in the city. The only cultural center of its kind in the Palestinian-governed areas, it houses a 736-seat auditorium, as well as conference rooms, exhibit halls, and movie-screening rooms. It was a joint venture of the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
(UNDP), and the Japanese government. Ramallah hosted its first annual international film festival in 2004.
File:Kebap a Ramallah01.JPG, Kebab
Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish that originates from cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the category are popular around the wor ...
stand in Ramallah.
File:2010-08 Ramallah 22.jpg, Lion sculptures in Ramallah's central square.
File:Ramallah square.jpg, Monument and Palestinian flag
The flag of Palestine ( ar, علم فلسطين) is a tricolor of three equal horizontal stripes (black, white, and green from top to bottom) overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. This flag is derived from the Pan-Arab colors and ...
at Al Sa’a Square/Yasser Arafat Square in Ramallah
Ramallah folklore
Ramallah, like most Palestinian areas, has a rich folklore of song and dance. Songs accompanied people in every occasion whether it was the harvest season, roofing a house, traveling, coming back from travel, engagement, wedding, or even death. Most of the songs were sung by the women with the exception of Zaffeh and Mal'ab which are sung by the men at wedding celebrations. Palestinian educator Bahia Khalil's book "Ramallah Folklore Songs and Traditions" documents to a great extent this oral tradition inherited from one generation to another. The second edition of the book was published in 2002 by the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine, an organization for Palestinian-Americans from the Ramallah region living in the United States.
Foreign travelers to Palestine in late 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of costumes among the Palestinian people, and particularly among the fellaheen or village women. Until the 1940s, a woman's economic status, whether married or single, and the town or area they were from could be deciphered by most Palestinian women by the type of cloth, colors, cut, and embroidery motifs, or lack thereof, used for the robe-like dress or "thoub" in Arabic
Palestinian costume
Though experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian costumes to ancient times, there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
s to have ruled Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome
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, Byzantine empire
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, and Ayyubids, among others
Others or The Others may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Others (A Song of Ice and Fire), Others (''A Song of Ice and Fire''), supernatural creatures in the fictional world of George R. R. Martin's fantasy series ''A Song of Ice and Fire''
* Ot ...
, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times.
Hanan Munayyer, collector and researcher of Palestinian clothing, sees examples of proto-Palestinian attire in artifacts from the Canaanite period (1500 BCE) such as Egyptian paintings depicting Canaanites
{{Cat main, Canaan
See also:
* :Ancient Israel and Judah
Ancient Levant
Hebrew Bible nations
Ancient Lebanon
0050
Ancient Syria
Wikipedia categories named after regions
0050
Phoenicia
Amarna Age civilizations ...
in A-shaped garments. Munayyer says that from 1200 BC to 1940 AD, all Palestinian dresses were cut from natural fabrics in a similar A-line shape with triangular sleeves.[ This shape is known to ]archaeologists
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
as the "Syrian tunic" and appears in artifacts such as an ivory engraving from Megiddo dating to 1200 BC.
Until the 1940s, traditional Palestinian costumes reflected a woman's economic and marital status and her town or district of origin, with knowledgeable observers discerning this information from the fabric
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, colours, cut, and embroidery
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...
motifs (or lack thereof) used in the apparel.
Due to the difficulty of travel in the 19th century, villages in Palestine remained isolated. As a result, clothing and accessories became a statement of region. In Ramallah, the back panels of dresses often incorporated a palm tree motif embroidered in cross-stitch. Ramallah women were famous for their distinctive dress of white linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
fabric embroidered with red silk thread. The headdress or ''smadeh'' worn in Ramallah was common throughout northern Palestine: a small roundish cap, padded and stiffened, with gold and silver coins set in a fringe with a long veil pinned to the back, sometimes of silk and sometimes embroidered.
File:Ramallah-Family-1905.jpg, Palestinian family from Ramallah wearing typical Palestinian Ottoman Era clothing, c. 1905.
File:Ramallah woman2.jpg, Young woman of Ramallah wearing dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
headdress, c. 1898–1914
File:Ramlah costumewo.jpg, Ramallah woman, c. 1920, Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
File:Arabic-traditional-Dress.jpg, Traditional Women's Dress in Ramallah, c. 1920.
File:American Colony, Ramallah peasant spinning wool 18417-020u.jpg, A man from Ramallah spinning wool. Hand tinted photograph from 1919, restored.
Twin towns – sister cities
Ramallah is twinned with:
* Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, France
* Hounslow, England, United Kingdom
* Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, South Africa
* Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, Belgium
* Muscatine, United States
* Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England, United Kingdom
* Sur
Sur or SUR or El Sur (Spanish "the South") may refer to:
Geography
* Sur or Shur (Bible), the wilderness of Sur/Shur from the Book of Exodus
* Sur (river), a river of Bavaria, Germany
* Súr, a village in Hungary
* Sur, a district of the city of ...
, Turkey
* Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
, Norway
Notable people
* Paul Ajlouny
* Mahmoud Eid
* Amber Fares
Amber Fares is a Lebanese Canadian filmmaker, documentarian, director and cinematographer. She co-founded SocDoc Studios. She is based in Brooklyn and State of Palestine, Palestine.
Biography
Born in Canada with Lebanese roots, Fares began her s ...
* Jibril Rajoub
Jibril Mahmoud Muhammad Rajoub ( ar, جبريل رجوب, born 14 May 1953), also known by his kunya Abu Rami, is a Palestinian political leader, legislator, and former militant. He leads the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Ol ...
* Mosab Hassan Yousef, former resident
See also
* Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians ( ar, مَسِيحِيُّون فِلَسْطِينِيُّون, Masīḥiyyūn Filasṭīniyyūn) are Christian citizens of the State of Palestine. In the wider definition of Palestinian Christians, including the Palestin ...
* Economy of the State of Palestine
The economy of the State of Palestine refers to the economic activity of the State of Palestine.
History
GDP per capita in the Palestinian territories rose by 7% per year from 1968 to 1980 but slowed during the 1980s. Between 1970 and 1991 l ...
References
Bibliography
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* Shaheen, Azeez (1982): ''Ramallah: Its history and genealogies''. Birzeit University
Birzeit University (BZU; ar, جامعة بيرزيت) is a public university in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as charitable organization. It is accredited by the Palestinian Mi ...
Press
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*
External links
Ramallah City
* Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
Ramallah History
Music and Art from Ramallah
Al Kasaba Theatre
Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre
First Ramallah Group
Ramallah International Film Festival
RamallahOnline.com
Ramallah Club of Metro Detroit
Jnewswire.com
Ramallah ancient synagogue
Anne Brunswic's book Welcome to Palestine, English translation
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Capitals in the State of Palestine
Cities in the West Bank
Palestinian Christian communities
Populated places established in the 16th century
Municipalities of the State of Palestine