Ramallah

Ramallah
رام الله

View over Ramallah (2010)

Administration :

Palestinian Territories

Area:

West Bank

Governorate :

Ramallah and al-Bira

Founded :

16th Century

Coordinates :

31 ° 54 ' N , 35 ° 12' E Coordinates: 31 ° 54 '18 " N , 35 ° 12' 21" E

Height :

900 m

Area :

16.3 km²

Residents :

33,218 (2014)

Population density :

2,038 inhabitants per km²

Time zone :

UTC + 2

Telephone code :

(+970) 02

Community type:

city

Mayor :

Musa Hadid

Website :

www.ramallah.ps/

Ramallah

Manarah Square after renovation in 2008

The new parliament building

The Muqataa , the official residence of the Palestinian President

Ramallah ( Arabic رام الله, DMG Rām Allāh ) is a city in the Palestinian Territories in the West Bank . In the city there are parts of the government - next to Gaza City - the building of the Palestinian Legislative Council , parts of the executive branch and offices of the Palestinian West Bank Security Forces .

Surname

The name Ramallah is made up of the two words Ram (or Rama ) and Allah . Ram means high place in Arabic , Allah is the Arabic word for God . A free translation would result in a hill of God .

history

A fortress was built by French crusaders in the 12th century . Parts of the fortress at-Tireh are still preserved in the old town. In 1550, Rashed Haddad and his family founded the city of Ramallah at the fortress.

Ramallah was originally Christian and is home to several parishes. The annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem is reported in the New Testament in Luke 2.45 EU . On the way back, Mary and Joseph noticed that the twelve-year-old Jesus was not with them, whereupon they returned to Jerusalem, where they found him again in the temple. According to tradition, this event is located in Ramallah. The Roman Catholic parish church of the Franciscans (OFM) is consecrated to the Holy Family .

In the 19th century the Quakers came to Ramallah and founded a boys' school "Friends' Boy School" in 1869 and then a girls' school. The historic Quaker meeting house is still in the center - surrounded by tall commercial buildings.

During the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, Jordan took control of Ramallah. After that, the place was popular as a summer retreat because of its altitude. During the Six Day War in 1967 the city was occupied by the Israeli army and taken over by the Israeli administration. In 1994 Ramallah was handed over to Palestinian self-government as part of the Oslo Peace Process . Although the official capital of Palestine is Jerusalem , Ramallah is actually the political, economic and cultural center of the Palestinian territories .

With the autonomy in 1994, the city (next to Gaza) got a parliament building and became the seat of several ministries. As a result, the offices of the foreign representations were opened. A short time later, the German representation moved from Jericho to Ramallah (next to the town hall).

After his death in a Paris hospital, Yasser Arafat was buried on November 12, 2004 in the courtyard of the Muqataa , which is actually located in Al-Bireh . After the town council elections in December 2005, a Christian Janet Michael was elected mayor, the first woman to hold the post. In the summer of 2008, the city celebrated the city administration's 100th anniversary with numerous events. As a result, the streets of the center were renovated and the metal pillar around the lion fountain in Manarah Square was removed. In 2011, the roundabout of the historic clock square, which is now called Arafat Square, was converted into a square. The economic boom brought international flair to the city and can also be seen in the construction of new hotels. In November 2010, for example, the Mövenpick luxury hotel , whose construction had been interrupted due to the Second Intifada, opened. There are also many new commercial and office buildings, including a number of high-rise buildings. Since 2012 there has been a modern geographic information system that can be accessed on the Internet. For this, all streets were given a name beforehand.

In recent years architecturally remarkable buildings such as the Palestine Trade Tower, the Red Crescent Building or the "Salta3 Burger", a replica of the "Krusty Krab" made from SpongeBob SquarePants , were closed after a few months and are now a café .

geography

Ramallah in the West Bank

The city is located in the hills of central Palestine, 15 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem . Since the wall was built, the city can only be reached from the south via the Qalandia border post; the former main road Jerusalem-Nablus 60 has been relocated to the east. The access via Ofer near Baituniya is only used for goods traffic.

In the meantime, Ramallah has grown together with the Muslim city of Al-Bireh in the northeast, which was built right next to it . The new city center, Manarah Square (Lighthouse Square) is exactly on the border. In the southwest, the industrial area grew together with the city of Baituniya . In the south is the large Al-Amari refugee camp. To the east of Ramallah / Al-Bireh is the Jewish settlement of Psagot .

population

Ramallah was originally a place inhabited almost exclusively by Arab Christians . Only in the course of the settlement of many Muslim refugees after the emergence of Israel did the majority situation change. As a result, the city has a Muslim majority of the population. However, the Arab Christians form a large minority in numbers.

Culture

German-French cultural center Ramallah

Due to the cosmopolitan attitude of the population and the large number of foreigners who work in the various organizations and agencies, Ramallah is the “most western” of all Palestinian cities. There are theaters, cinemas and other cultural centers, such as the Kulturpalast named after the poet Mahmoud Darwisch or the Franco-German Cultural Center founded in 2004 , a cooperation between the Goethe Institute and the Institut français . The AM Qattan Foundation has been involved in the city since 1993 . In 2003, on the initiative of Daniel Barenboim, the Barenboim-Said Foundation was founded with a youth orchestra.

Darwish Palace of Culture

The Darwish Palace of Culture (formerly just Palace of Culture) is the only and first of its kind in the Palestinian Territories . It houses art spaces including an auditorium with 736 seats and conference rooms. The Palace of Culture cost around five million dollars to build and is the result of six years of collaboration between the Palestinian Authority, the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and the Japanese government.

The Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish was buried on August 12, 2008 in a “ state funeral ” on a hill not far from the Palace of Culture, whereupon it was renamed the Darwish Palace of Culture in his honor.

Al Husseini Stadium

The articles Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium and Ramallah overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→ instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. ... "" Man77 "" All information without a rifle. 8:58 pm, Mar 22nd 2019 (CET)

Since 2008 Ramallah has had the Faisal-Al-Husseini Stadium , a sports facility that has been accepted by FIFA . However, the stadium is not located in Ramallah, but in Ar-Ram , a suburb of the Palestinian-administered part of East Jerusalem. Still, it is considered to be the stadium of Ramallah.

The 7,000-seat stadium, named after Faisal Husseini , was renovated with a total of four million dollars from the FIFA “Goal” project and donations. It is the home stadium of the Palestinian national team , which hosted its first home game in the association's 80-year history on October 26, 2008 in the presence of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and DFB Director Helmut Sandrock . The opponent of the team supervised by the Israeli soccer coach Arab Azmi Nassar was Jordan. In future, all home games of the Palestinian national team will be played in this stadium.

Personalities

The tomb of Yasser Arafat inside the mausoleum, guarded by two security forces from the Palestinian Honor Guard

Yasser Arafat (1929-2004), politician
Abdul ibn Raschid ibn Mahmud , surgeon, terrorist
Mahmud Darwisch (1941–2008), poet
Rashed Haddad , blacksmith, founder of Ramallah
Janet Michael, first woman mayor
Hovhannes Samueli Donabedian , architect, painter and draftsman
Nabil Totah (1930–2012), jazz bassist
Jeannette Zarou (* 1942), opera singer
Hanan Aschrawi (* 1946), politician and English scholar

Attractions

at-Tireh, fortress from the 12th century.
Lion monument in Manarah Square, five lions represent the first five Christian families who founded the city of Ramallah after the expulsion from Shobak (Jordan)