Ramallah ( “Allah’s Mountain” in Arabic - at an altitude of 860m) and al-Bireh (bir means “well” in Arabic) were once two distinct villages, but have grown together into a built-up area of over 60,000 inhabitants; the entire district of Ramallah today has more than 200,000 inhabitants. Since the Palestinian Authority (PA) took office in December 1995, the district has evolved as the administrative, cultural and political centre. It has known the same urban growth as other autonomous Palestinian cities, but the development in Ramallah has had a particularly marked cultural and recreational flavour. Before its occupation in 1967, the city’s cool temperatures during the summer, its fresh air, its cultural life and cafés made it a favourite summer resort.
The history of Ramallah was first recorded in the sixteenth century, when the Christian tribe of Rashid, originally from Karak (Jordan), settled here. For a long time the village remained a simple farming town. Al-Bireh’s origins are more ancient, traced to the Canaanite city of Beroth. The importance of Ramallah steadily increased from the end of the nineteenth century: in 1902, it became the administrative centre of the region, and in 1910, was declared an official municipality.
After the tragedy of 1948 (Nakba), and an influx of refugees, the two towns of Ramallah and al-Bireh experienced a building boom. Ever since the occupation in 1967, resistance has been strong here. In May 1980, Karim Khalaf, the mayor of Ramallah, and the mayors of al-Bireh and Nablus were victims of car bombs placed in their personal vehicles by settlers with the help of the Israeli army. The mayor of Ramallah lost a foot and suffered paralysis of one leg; the mayor of Nablus lost both legs while the mayor of al-Bireh stopped using his personal car for some time. In 1982, all three were dismissed for refusing to collaborate with the Israeli administration and for “inciting the population to revolt.” Between 1982 and 1986, an Israeli officer was named to manage affairs in the two municipalities.
A closely-knit network of local committees and associations developed to see to needs of the population inadequately tended by the occupying authorities. These groups and other non-governmental organizations gradually developed in Ramallah after the arrival of the PA in 1995 in addition to numerous NGOs and several political institutions: the Palestinian parliament meets here and several ministries also have their offices here, albeit the new, unfinished Palestinian Legislative Council building stands in the closed ghetto of Abu Dis, East Jerusalem next to the Wall, a new settlement (Kidmat Zion) and a Palestinian West Bank hotel newly annexed by Israel as “absentee property” (named as theft by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in an editorial), with another new settlement (Nof Zion) on the opposite hill.
Sites of Interest
While Ramallah is full of restaurants, cafes, and cultural events, it is not home to many historical sites. However, the area around it is rich in history, making Ramallah a perfect base for day trips. Below is a list of nearby sites and villages travelers should consider visiting.
Beitin
The village of Beitin is on the outskirts of al-Bireh, separated from it only by a huge Israeli military camp, HQ for the entire region around Ramallah (north and east). Beitin is now a residential village near Ramallah on the slopes of what was once a flourishing city of religious importance. Archaeologists have found evidence that herding communities lived here, at the beginning of the Copper Age. Circa 3200 BC in the Early Bronze Age, animal sacrifice to the Canaanite gods was regularly practiced.
Tel et-Tal (Ai - or Tourmos Aya)
Between the arid hills to the east and the olive groves to the west, a large Canaanite city-state (10 hectares) grew up at the beginning of the third millennium BC. Protected by a fortified wall, the city possessed all the characteristics of an important Bronze Age urban centre: a residential area, an area for craft industry, a palace and a temple.
Taybeh
Taybeh is a village with a population of 1,200 people, most of whom are Christian. It is mentioned several times in the Old Testament as Ophra and, in the New Testament, as Ephraim. Nadim Khoury founded the Taybeh Beer Brewing Company here in 1995, the only beer company in the Middle East ( 02-289 8868 or 02-289 9293; www.taybehbeer.net, tours of the brewery).
Jalazone Refugee Camp
UNRWA office, Mahmoud al-Atharbeh, 02-281 0874.
Established in 1949 on rocky hills 7 kilometres from the city of Ramallah, Jalazone refugee camp has a population of over 8,000 refugees, most of whom come originally from the cities of Lydd and Ramle and from villages in the centre of Palestine.
Jifna
Village council, 02-281 1073.
At the end of the Hellenistic period, Jifna was already called a “small city,” appearing as “Gofna” on the sixth century Madaba Map. Today, Jifna is a small village with a Christian majority, famous for it annual apricot festival (May 1-15). It also has a museum and exhibitions (02-281 0801/2).
Birzeit
The village of Birzeit (2 km from the campus of the University of Birzeit) is a lively place, thanks to its proximity to the university. There are restaurants, Internet cafés, shops and chemist shops and a hostel for foreign students and many rooms for rent. The university’s Department of Archaeology is located in the centre of the village, providing the opportunity to visit a small archaeological museum (open Sunday-Thursday, 9:00-14:30; 02-298 2000).Birzeit is equally famous for its international music festival every summer (cancelled since the beginning of the al-Asqa Intifada).
The Shuqba Caves
15 km northwest of Ramallah. Village council head, Adam Shallah, 02-248 4201. Prehistoric caves on the northern side of Wadi Natouf. Bring a torch or flashlight for a visit to the caves.
Ras Karkar
Village council, Rezek Nofal, 059-798 660.
The fortified residence of Bani Harith Shamaliyeh, constructed in the eighteenth century, extends over 2430 sq.m of the hilltop here.
Qibya
Destroyed village to the west of Ramallah The massacre of Qibya took place on October 14, 1953, when Israeli military forces led by Ariel Sharon attacked this West Bank village then under Jordanian control.
Amwas, Yalou, and Beit Nouba
In 1967, approximately 12,000 people lived in the villages of Amwas, Yalou, and Beit Nouba. On June 11, the residents of these three neighbouring villages were expelled by armed Israeli forces, acting under orders of Yitzhak Rabin, and forced to flee towards Ramallah. Everything in the three villages was then systematically dynamited and bulldozed: around 539 houses in Yalou, 550 in Beit Nouba and 375 in Amwas were reduced to nothing.
Example of the Israel Matrix of Control: The Industrial Zone of Sha'arei Binyamin
View from the permanent Israeli military checkpoint (machsom in Hebrew) near the entrance to the Qalandia refugee camp.
This military checkpoint at Qalandia is an ideal point to observe the reality of Israeli colonization down to its last detail.
To the north: the Qalandia refugee camp.
To the west: Jerusalem’s airport, built by the Jordanian authorities. International flights were in service until the beginning of the first Intifada (1989). A new airport is due to be built at the Ma’ale Adumim settlement city, east of Jerusalem. A highway (Road 45/443), runs next to the airstrip; it is part of a $3 billion highway system approved by the Rabin government in the early Oslo Accord years and largely funded by American grants. It cuts across the West Bank to link Tel Aviv to the Jordan Valley; its West Bank routes are uniquely for Israelis living in the settlements. In 2003 it was estimated [Haaretz - September 26, 2003] that the section between Givat Ze’ev via Atarot to Jerusalem had already cost NIS 80 million and the entire road would cost NIS 1 billion.
To the east: Road 45 is vital for the demographic and economic development of the settlements east of Ramallah, which include Adam, Kochav Ya’akov, Tel Zion (which is spreading rapidly towards Qalandia), Psagot (the settlement towers over the urban area of Al-Bireh-Ramallah) as well as Beit El, Ma’ale Mikhmas, and Almon, further to the east. All these settlements are integral parts of the plan for “Greater Jerusalem,” a huge administrative planning unit which embodies the Israeli definition of what constitutes the territory of Jerusalem, officially enacted in 2004.
The Sha’arei Binyamin industrial park (By-pass Road 60) is one of many industrial parks originally planned by The Peres Centre for Peace as CBIZ (cross border industrial zones). The park (and others such as at nearby Mishor Adumim, Tulkarem, Barkan, Ariel) fulfils several functions: it creates a centre for economic activity, stimulating the economic, demographic and geographic growth of nearby settlements; it is a source of low-income jobs for Palestinians, thus deepening their dependence on Israel (whilst competing directly with and impacting negatively on Ramallah as a place of business activity and labour pool) and it also moves Israel’s most polluting industries (e.g factories manufacturing aluminum, plastics, chemicals, fertilizer and slaughterhouses and meat packing plants) into the West Bank and “Greater Jerusalem.” This industrial park, planned as an integral part of “Greater Jerusalem,” is consecrated by its name, which means “Benjamin’s Door”, an allusion to the original territory here of the Biblical tribe of Benjamin, the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons.
Tel Zion is a new city settlement in this “sacred” space of “Greater Jerusalem” slated to be inhabited by 30,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews. It is vaunted by Israel as “natural expansion” of Kochav Ya’akov - a settlement of 3,000 religious nationalists of “Gush Emunim” who claim to be part of Greater Israel - Judaea and Samaria, whilst those of Tel Zion are ultra-Orthodox for whom Jerusalem is the holy of holies, hence inclusion of Tel Zion within the Jerusalem “eruv” - a thin, high wire which encloses religious areas, making it possible for women to walk their children in pushcarts on the Sabbath, |
