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Al-Ram

Coordinates:31°51′13″N35°14′00″E/ 31.85361°N 35.23333°E/31.85361; 35.23333
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Al-Ram
A-Ram
Er-Ram
Municipality type B
Arabic transcription(s)
•Arabicالرّام
•Latinal-Ramm (official)
al-Ram (unofficial)
Al-Ram behind the separation barrier
Al-Ram behind the separation barrier
Al-Ram A-Ram Er-Ram is located in State of Palestine
Al-Ram A-Ram Er-Ram
Al-Ram
A-Ram
Er-Ram
Location of Al-Ram withinPalestine
Coordinates:31°51′13″N35°14′00″E/ 31.85361°N 35.23333°E/31.85361; 35.23333
Palestine grid172/140
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJerusalem
Government
• TypeMunicipality
Area
• Total3,289dunams(3.3 km2or 1.3 sq mi)
Population
(2017)[1]
• Total15,814
• Density4,800/km2(12,000/sq mi)
Name meaningFromHebrewRamah,"The Hill". In Arabic: "Stagnant water"[2]

Al-Ram(Arabic:الرّام), also transcribed asAl-Ramm,El-Ram,Er-Ram,andA-Ram,is aPalestiniantown which lies northeast ofJerusalem,just outside the city's municipal border. The village is part of the built-up urban area of Jerusalem, theAtarotindustrial zone andBeit Haninalie to the west, andNeve Yaakovborders it on the south,[3]with a built-up area of 3,289dunums.According to thePalestinian Central Bureau of Statistics,a-Ram had a population of 15,814 in 2017.[1]The head of A-Ram's village council estimates that 58,000 people live there, more than half of them holdingIsraeliidentity cards.[4]

History

Ancient Israel

Al-Ram is commonly thought to be the site of the biblical city ofRamah in Benjamin.[5][6][7][8]Archeological evidence shows that the town was heavily populated during theIron Age II,declined during thePersian period,and later revived during theHellenistic period.[9]

Classical period

Ossuariesdated to the first century BC and CE were discovered at Al-Ram bearingHebrewinscriptions with names such asMiriam,Yehohanan,andShimon ben Zekhariya.[10]

Crusader period

InCrusadersources, Al-Ram was namedAram, Haram, Rama, Ramatha, Ramitta,orRamathes.[11]Al-Ram was one of 21 villages given byGodfrey of Bouillon(r. 1099–1100) as afiefto theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre.[12][13]All the inhabitants of the village who were mentioned in Crusader sources between 1152 and 1160 had names which imply they were Christian.[14][15]The village was mentioned around 1161, when a dispute about a land boundary was settled.[15][16]

Ottoman period

In 1517, the village became part of theOttoman Empirealong withthe rest of Palestine.In the 1596tax records,it appeared asRama,located in theNahiyaof Jabal Quds of theLiwaofAl-Quds.The population was 28 households, allMuslim.They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, includingwheat,barley,olivetrees andvineyards,in addition to occasional revenues,goatsandbeehives;a total of 4700akçe.[17]

In 1838,Edward Robinsonfound the village to be very poor and small, but large stones and scattered columns indicated that it had previously been an important place.[5]In 1870 the French explorerVictor Guérinfound the village to have 200 inhabitants,[18]while an Ottoman village list of about the same year showed that Er-Ram had 32 houses and a population of 120, though the population count included men only.[19][20]

In 1883, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestinedescribed Er-Ram as a "small village in a conspicuous position on the top of a white hill, with olives. It has awellto the south. [..] The houses are of stone, partly built of old material ".[21] "West of the village is a good birkeh with a pointedvault;lower down the hill a pillar-shaft broken in two, probably from the church. On the hill arecisterns.Drafted stonesare used up in the village walls. At Khan-er-Ram, by the main road, is aquarrywith half-finished blocks still in it, and two cisterns. TheKhanappears to be quite modern, and is in ruins. There are extensive quarries on the hill-sides near it. "[22]

In 1896, the population of Er-Ram was estimated to be about 240 persons.[23]

British Mandate period

In the1922 census of Palestineconducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Al-Ram had a population of 208, all Muslims.[24]This had increased in the1931 censusto 262, still all Muslim, in 51 houses.[25]Al-Ram suffered badly in the1927 earthquake,with old walls collapsing.[26]

In asurvey in 1945,Al-Ram had a population of 350, all Muslims,[27]and a total land area of 5,598dunams.[28]441 dunams were designated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,291 for cereals,[29]while 14 dunams were built-up area.[30]

Jordanian period

TheFaisal Al-Husseini Stadiumin Al-Ram, 2011

In the wake of the1948 Arab–Israeli War,and after the1949 Armistice Agreements,Al-Ram came underJordanian rule.

In 1961, the population of Al-Ram was 769.[31]

Post-1967

Since theSix-Day Warin 1967, Al-Ram has been underIsraeli occupation.

The population in a 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 860, 86 of whom originated from the Israeli territory.[32]

According toARIJ,after the1995 accords,33.2% (or about ~2,226 dunums) of Al-Ram's land is classified asArea Bland, while the remaining 66.8% (~4,482 dunums) was defined asArea C.[33]Israel has confiscated land from Al-Ram in order to build twoIsraeli settlement/Industrial parks:

In 2006, theIsraeli High Courtrejected three petitions objecting to the construction of a security barrier separating Al-Ram from Jerusalem.[35]The route of the fence planned to encircle northern Jerusalem has been revised several times. The latest plan, effectively implemented, called for a "minimalist" route following the municipal boundary at a distance of several hundred meters. This has left the town of Al-Ram almost entirely outside of the fence, with the exception of the southern part of the town, called Dahiyat al-Barid.[36][37]

Archaeology

Neolithic mask

TheSurvey of Western Palestinementions that Dr. Chaplin, who had visited er-Ram with an interest for archaeological remains, had "a very curious stone mask... in his possession, obtained from the village. It represents a human face without hair or beard, the nose well-cut, the eyes and mouth very feebly designed. The mask is hollowed out behind, and has two deep holes at the back as if to fix it to a wall. It is over a foot in longer diameter, and curiously resembles some of the faces of the Moabite collection ofMr. Shapira.There cannot well be any question of its genuine character, and nothing like it has been found, so far as I know, in Palestine. "[22][38]By 2018, a total of 15 such stone masks from thePre-Pottery Neolithic Bperiod have been discovered in theSouthern Levant,one known to have had been bought in the late 19th century from villagers in Er-Ram and now kept at thePalestine Exploration Fundin London.[39]

Dr Thomas J. Chaplin (1830–1904) was the director of theLondon Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews' ownBritish Hospital for the Jews in Jerusalemfor some 25 years.[40]

Crusader remains

Two Crusader structures have been identified in the town.

Tower

Archaeologists have identified the ruins of a Crusader courtyard building developed from an initialtower,as thegrangeof aFrankishnew town founded by 1160.[41]

Former Crusader church

19th-century drawing of alintelfrom a Crusader church, repurposed as amaqam[22]

The former (old)mosqueof Al-Ram was once a Crusader parishchurch.[15][42][dubious–discuss]

In 1838, Robinson noted that "A small mosk with columns seems once to have been a church".[5]

In 1870, Guérin described "a mosque, replacing a former Christian church, of which it occupies the choir; the inhabitants venerate there the memory of Shaykh Hasen. The columns of this sanctuary come from the church."[43]

In 1881, LieutenantConderreported: "At the shrine which is so conspicuous near this village are remains of a former chapel. The lintel stone (as it would seem), with a bas-relief of rosettes, has been found by Dr. Chaplin within the building."[22][38]

In 1883,SWPnoted that "west of the village is theMukamof Sheik Hasein, once a small Christianbasilica".It further described it as" The remains of the northaisle6 feet 8 inches wide, are marked by fourcolumns2 feet in diameter. The chamber of the saint's tomb occupies part of thenave,and into its north wall thelintelof the old door is built, a stone 10 feet long, half of which is visible, with designs as shown. In the courtyard east of this chamber is an old well of good water and a fine mulberry-tree. In the west wall of the Mukam other stones, with discs in low relief, are built in. "[22]

Sister cities

References

  1. ^abPreliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017(PDF).Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics(PCBS) (Report).State of Palestine.February 2018. pp. 64–82.Retrieved2023-10-24.
  2. ^Palmer, 1881, p.324
  3. ^"The Separation Barrier surrounding a-Ram".Btselem. January 1, 2014.Retrieved18 January2014.
  4. ^"Israel's Apartheid Wall Surrounding a-Ram".B'Tselem.Palestine Media Center. June 27, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon September 27, 2011.RetrievedJanuary 9,2015.
  5. ^abcRobinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp.315-317
  6. ^Studium Biblicum Franciscanum,Rama - (al-Ram)Archived2012-10-03 at theWayback Machine,accessed 25 October 2017
  7. ^Jewish Encyclopedia,Ramah,accessed 26 October 2017
  8. ^Na'aman, Nadav (2019-10-02)."Reconsidering the Ancient name of Nebi Samwil".Palestine Exploration Quarterly.151(3–4): 202–217.doi:10.1080/00310328.2019.1684772.ISSN0031-0328.
  9. ^Finkelstein, Israel(2018).Hasmonean realities behind Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.SBL Press.p. 41.ISBN978-0-88414-307-9.OCLC1081371337.
  10. ^Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: a multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad.Vol. IV: Iudaea / Idumaea. Eran Lupu, Marfa Heimbach, Naomi Schneider, Hannah Cotton. Berlin:de Gruyter.2018. pp. 231–233.ISBN978-3-11-022219-7.OCLC663773367.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^Pringle, 1998, p.179
  12. ^Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.11
  13. ^de Roziére, 1849, p.263:Haram,cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp.16-17, No 74
  14. ^Röhricht, 1893, RRH, pp. 70-71,No 278; p.92,No 353
  15. ^abcPringle, 1998, p.180
  16. ^Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p.96,No 365
  17. ^Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 117
  18. ^Guérin, 1874, p.199ff
  19. ^Socin, 1879, p.158
  20. ^Hartmann, 1883, p.127,also noted 32 houses
  21. ^Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.13
  22. ^abcdeConder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.155
  23. ^Schick, 1896, p.121
  24. ^Barron, 1923, Table V||, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p.14
  25. ^Mills, 1932, p.42
  26. ^Pringle, 1983, p. 163
  27. ^Department of Statistics, 1945, p.25
  28. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.58Archived2018-11-03 at theWayback Machine
  29. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.104Archived2012-03-14 at theWayback Machine
  30. ^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics.Village Statistics, April, 1945.Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p.154Archived2014-04-27 at theWayback Machine
  31. ^Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p.23
  32. ^Perlmann, Joel (November 2011 – February 2012)."The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version"(PDF).Levy Economics Institute.Retrieved24 June2016.
  33. ^Ar Ram Town Profile,ARIJ, 2012, pp. 18-19
  34. ^abAr Ram Town Profile,ARIJ, 2012, p. 19
  35. ^High Court: A-Ram fence is our defense,Dec. 13, 2006,The Jerusalem Post
  36. ^Btselem (January 2016)."The Separation Barrier surrounding a-Ram".Retrieved16 April2019.
  37. ^Harel, Amos (November 10, 2003)."Separation fence to include wide area east of Jerusalem".Haaretz.Retrieved18 January2014.
  38. ^abConder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p.438
  39. ^Gannon, Megan (30 November 2018)."Haunting, 9,000-Year-Old Stone Mask Discovered in a Field in the West Bank".Live Science.Retrieved10 November2020.
  40. ^Lev, Efraim; Perry, Yaron (2004)."Dr Thomas Chaplin, Scientist and Scholar in Nineteenth-Century Palestine".Palestine Exploration Quarterly.136(136:2). London:Palestine Exploration Fund:151–162.doi:10.1179/003103204x4067.S2CID161268746.Retrieved10 November2020.
  41. ^Pringle, 1997, p.88
  42. ^Wilson, 1881, p.214:picture
  43. ^Guérin, 1874, p.200,as translated in Pringle, 1998, p.180

Bibliography

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