178-680: Al-Masyoun is an upscale neighborhood in Ramallah in the West Bank In the first decade of the 21st century this "fashionable" neighborhood experienced a major building boom that included new condominiums, upscale stores and upscale restaurants such as Orjuwan . and the restaurant Tropicana Ramallah Ramallah ( UK : / r ə ˈ m æ l ə / rə- MAL -ə , US : / r ə ˈ m ɑː l ə / rə- MAH -lə ; Arabic : رام الله , romanized : Rām Allāh , lit. 'God's Height' )
356-728: 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,
534-589: 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. The activity of foreign churches in Palestine in the late 19th century increased awareness of prosperity in the West. In Ramallah and Bethlehem ,
712-659: A borderland of the Muslim world , Syria was an important theatre of jihad , though enthusiasm for pursuing it had faded by the end of the 11th century. In contrast, the Catholic ideology of religious war quickly developed, culminating in the idea of crusades for lands claimed for Christianity. Most crusades came from what had been the Carolingian Empire around 800. The empire had disintegrated, and two loosely unified successor states had taken its place:
890-632: 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 Lydda moved to Ramallah,
1068-543: A group of pious knights about a monastic order for deeply religious warriors was likely first discussed at the council of Nablus. Church leaders quickly espoused the idea of armed monks, and within a decade, two military orders , the Knights Templar and Hospitaller , were formed. As the Fatimid Caliphate no longer posed a major threat to Jerusalem, but Antioch and Edessa were vulnerable to invasion,
1246-471: A large force, committing all of his kingdom's available resources. The leadership divided on tactics. Raynald urged an offensive, while Raymond proposed defensive caution, although Saladin was besieging his castle at Tiberias. Guy decided to deal with the siege. The march towards Tiberias was arduous, and Saladin's troops overwhelmed the exhausted Frankish army at the Horns of Hattin on 4 July 1187. Hattin
1424-651: A lively nightlife, with many restaurants including the Stars and Bucks Cafe, a branch of the Tche Tche 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
1602-518: A marriage alliance with the Byzantines. Baldwin married Manuel's niece, Theodora , and received a significant dowry. With his consent, Manuel forced Raynald into accepting Byzantine overlordship. The childless Baldwin III died in 1163. His younger brother Amalric had to repudiate his wife Agnes of Courtenay on grounds of consanguinity before his coronation, but the right of their two children, Baldwin IV and Sibylla , to inherit
1780-480: 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,
1958-700: A military campaign against the Turks who had attacked Byzantine territories in Anatolia. Turkic migration permeated the Middle East from the 9th century. Muslim border raiders captured unconverted Turkic nomads in the Central Asian borderlands and sold them to Islamic leaders who used them as slave soldiers. These were known as ghilman or mamluk and were emancipated when converted to Islam. Mamluks were valued primarily because
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#17327718482292136-630: A mob, enraged in particular by the Muhammad al-Durrah incident 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
2314-550: A month after Baldwin's arrival, a Christian mob killed Thoros and acclaimed Baldwin as doux , the Byzantine title Thoros had used. Baldwin's position was personal rather than institutional, and the Armenian governance of the city remained in place. Baldwin's nascent County of Edessa consisted of pockets separated from his other holdings of Turbessel, Rawandan and Samosata by the territory of Turkic and Armenian warlords and
2492-530: 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." In 1896, the population of Ramallah was estimated to be about 2,061 persons. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities , Ramallah had a population of 3,104 (2,972 Christians , 125 Muslims , and seven Jews ),
2670-536: A population of 71 Christian households and 9 Muslim 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 . All of the revenue went to a waqf . 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
2848-687: A split in the Ismā'īlist branch of Shia Islam. The Persian missionary Hassan-i Sabbah led a breakaway group, creating the Nizari branch of Isma'ilism. This was known as the New Preaching in Syria and the Order of Assassins in western historiography. The Order used targeted murder to compensate for their lack of military power. The Seljuk invasions, the subsequent eclipse of the Byzantines and Fatimids, and
3026-601: A stake in Rawabi , a completely new town being constructed in the hills outside Ramallah at a cost of $ 1 billion. Ramallah has highest concentration of high-tech companies. ASAL technologies, an information technology company in Ramallah, has 120 employees and is looking forward to "exponential growth". In collaboration with the Republic of India , a new tech park named, the India Palestine Techno Park
3204-483: A truce with Saladin. Gümüshtekin released Raynald of Châtillon and Baldwin's maternal uncle, Joscelin III of Courtenay , for a large ransom. They hastened to Jerusalem, and Raynald seized Oultrejourdain by marrying Stephanie of Milly . As Baldwin, a leper, was not expected to father children, his sister's marriage was to be arranged before his inevitable premature death from the disease. His regent, Raymond, chose William of Montferrat for Sybilla's husband. William
3382-489: Is 1,591 mm (63 in). The Köppen climate classification places Ramallah in the Csa 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
3560-601: Is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank , that serves as the de facto administrative capital of the State of Palestine . It is situated on the Judaean Mountains , 10 km (6 miles) north of Jerusalem , at an average elevation of 872 meters (2,861 ft) above sea level, adjacent to al-Bireh . Ramallah has buildings containing masonry from the period of Herod the Great , but no complete building predates
3738-615: Is a popular venue for such events. The Al-Kasaba Theatre 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 (UNDP), and
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#17327718482293916-488: Is also a Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Ramallah, built in 1895. The Roman Catholic Church 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 run by Rosary sisters. In 1913, construction of
4094-464: 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 mountainous areas he came from. In addition, the heavily forested area could supply him with plenty of fuel for his forges. In 1596, Ramallah was listed in the tax registers as being in the nahiya of Quds (Jerusalem), part of the Liwa of Quds . It had
4272-496: Is ignited in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre and is passed on through candles and lanterns to regional churches. A variety of mosques and churches of different denominations dot the landscape. 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 . It boasts
4450-506: Is located in Birzeit . Apple Inc operates a research & development center in Rawabi with ASAL Technologies. A large number multinational companies operates facilities in Ramallah, which outsource Palestinians. 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
4628-415: Is one of the city's largest mosques . The Orthodox Church of Ramallah , an Orthodox Christian convent , Melkite Catholic Church , Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arab Episcopal ( Anglican ) Church, Ramallah Local Church ( Evangelical \ Born Again ) and Ramallah Baptist Church all operate schools in the city. A large new church has been built on top of one of the highest hills of Ramallah, belonging to
4806-494: Is the First Ramallah Group, a boy- and girl-scout club that also holds a number of traditional dance ( Dabka ) 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 performs there often. The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center , founded in 1996,
4984-441: The atabeg kept power after his ward reached the age of majority or died. The Seljuks adopted and strengthened the traditional iqta' system of the administration of state revenues. This system secured the payment of military commanders through granting them the right to collect the land tax in a well-defined territory, but it exposed the taxpayers to an absent lord's greed and to his officials' arbitrary actions. Although
5162-666: The British Army captured and occupied Ramallah in December 1917. The city remained occupied until the designation of the Palestine 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,
5340-553: The Coptic Orthodox Church. A small group of Jehovah Witnesses 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 celebrate the light that tradition holds shines forth from the tomb of Jesus , the scouts hold a parade through the city streets to receive the flame from Jerusalem. The flame
5518-720: The Crusades of the 11th century. The modern city was founded during the 16th century by the Hadadeens, an Arab Christian clan descended from Ghassanids . In 1517, the city was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire , and in 1920, it became part of British Mandatory Palestine after it was captured by the United Kingdom during World War I . The 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw the entire West Bank, including Ramallah, occupied and annexed by Transjordan . Ramallah
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5696-647: The Euphrates . In the Middle Ages the Crusader states were also called Syria or Syrie . From around 1115, the ruler of Jerusalem was styled 'king of the Latins in Jerusalem'. Historian Hans Eberhard Mayer believes this reflected that only Latins held complete political and legal rights in the kingdom, and that the major division in the society was not between the nobility and the common people but between
5874-730: The Fatimid vizier , Al-Afdal Shahanshah at Ascalon . When Daimbert of Pisa , the papal legate, arrived in the Levant with 120 Pisan ships, Godfrey gained much-needed naval support by backing him for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem , as well as granting him parts of Jerusalem and the Pisans a section of the port of Jaffa . Daimbert revived the idea of creating an ecclesiastic principality and extracted oaths of fealty from Godfrey and Bohemond. When Godfrey died in 1100, his retainers occupied
6052-713: The Greek patriarch of Antioch . Bohemond never returned. He died, leaving an underage son Bohemond II . Tancred continued as regent of Antioch and ignored the treaty. Richard's son, Roger of Salerno , succeeded as regent on Tancred's death in 1112. The fall of Tripoli prompted Sultan Muhammad Tapar to appoint the atabeg of Mosul, Mawdud , to wage jihad against the Franks. Between 1110 and 1113, Mawdud mounted four campaigns in Mesopotamia and Syria, but rivalry among his heterogeneous armies' commanders forced him to abandon
6230-531: The Haram al-Sharif , 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
6408-756: The Holy Land after it was lost to the 7th-century Arab Muslim conquest . Situated on the Eastern Mediterranean , the four states were, in order from north to south: the County of Edessa (1098–1144), the Principality of Antioch (1098–1268), the County of Tripoli (1102–1289), and the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291). The three northern states covered an area in what is now southeastern Turkey , northwestern Syria , and northern Lebanon ; and
6586-497: The Holy Roman Empire , which encompassed Germany , part of northern Italy , and the neighbouring lands; and France. Germany was divided into duchies , such as Lower Lorraine and Saxony , and their dukes did not always obey the emperors. Northern Italy was even less united, divided into numerous de facto independent states, and the authority of the emperor was barely felt. Carolingian's western successor state, France,
6764-636: The Iberian Peninsula to fight the Moors of Al-Andalus ; and Italian fleets launched pillaging raids against the north African ports. This shift of power especially benefited merchants from the Italian city-states of Amalfi , Genoa , Pisa , and Venice . They replaced the Muslim and Jewish middlemen in the lucrative trans-Mediterranean commerce, and their fleets became the dominant naval forces in
6942-557: The Intifada erupted, protesting against the continued Israeli occupation . 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
7120-660: 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 in Ramallah, with BBC members training local radio staff to deliver daily broadcasts in Arabic , Hebrew , and English . The station was later renamed Jerusalem Calling . In 1936, an Arab revolt against
7298-597: The Levant in around 1100: (from north to south) the County of Edessa , the Principality of Antioch , the County of Tripoli , and the Kingdom of Jerusalem . The term Outremer is of medieval origin, whilst modern historians use Crusader states, and the term Franks for the European incomers. However, relatively few of the incoming Europeans took a crusader oath. The Latin chronicles of the First Crusade, written in
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7476-558: The Mukataa and withdrew to the city outskirts. The newly established Palestinian Authority assumed civilian and security responsibility for the city, which was designated "Area A" under the accords. 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 in the Oslo Accords , under full civil and security control of
7654-534: The Palestinian Authority (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 remained in control of the territories and its government did not restore the freedom of movement enjoyed by Ramallah residents prior to
7832-581: The People of the Book , like Christians and Jews. The dhimmi were second-class citizens, obliged to pay a special poll tax , the jizya , but they could practise their religion and maintain their own law courts. Theological, liturgical, and cultural differences had given rise to the development of competing Christian denominations in the Levant before the 7th-century Muslim conquest . The Greek Orthodox natives, or Melkites , remained in full communion with
8010-419: The Roman Empire had previously held, would be handed to Alexios' Byzantine representatives. Only Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse refused this oath, instead promising non-aggression towards Alexios. The Byzantine Tatikios guided the crusade on the arduous three-month march to besiege Antioch , during which the Franks made alliances with local Armenians. Before reaching Antioch, Baldwin and his men left
8188-457: The Tower of David to secure his inheritance for his brother Baldwin. Daimbert and Tancred sought Bohemond's help against the Lotharingians, but the Danishmends captured Bohemond under Gazi Gümüshtigin while securing Antioch's northern marches. Before departing for Jerusalem, Baldwin ceded Edessa to his cousin, Baldwin of Bourcq . His arrival thwarted Daimbert, who crowned Baldwin as Jerusalem's first Latin king on Christmas Day 1100. By performing
8366-411: The creation of the State of Israel 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 between 1948 and 1967, with its residents enjoying freedom of movement between the West Bank , Jordan, Lebanon , and Syria. Jordan annexed the West Bank, applying its national law to
8544-436: 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 . After suicide bombings in Haifa , Arafat was confined to the Ramallah compound. In 2002, the compound was partly demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces and Arafat's building
8722-636: The prophets of the Hebrew Bible . All of the holy sites in Judaism were found there, including the remains of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. The New Testament presented Palestine as the venue of the acts of Jesus and his Apostles . Islamic tradition described the region's principal city, Jerusalem, as the site of the Isra' and Mi'raj , Muhammad's miraculous night travel and ascension to Heaven. Places associated with holy people developed into shrines visited by pilgrims coming from faraway lands, often as an act of penance . The surge in Christian pilgrimage also inspired many Jews to return to
8900-405: The 15-seat municipal council for a four-year term. The council elected Janet Mikhail as mayor, the first woman to hold the post. Munir Hamdan, a member of Fatah 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
9078-400: The 1995 Oslo Accords. The first and largest incursion was the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield , 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
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#17327718482299256-409: The Arab Banu Munqidh seized Shaizar , and Tutush's sons Duqaq and Ridwan succeeded in Damascus and Aleppo respectively, but their atabegs , Janah ad-Dawla and Toghtekin were in control. Ridwan's retainer Sokman ben Artuq held Jerusalem; Ridwan's father-in-law, Yağısıyan , ruled Antioch; and a warlord representing Byzantine interests, called Thoros , seized Edessa. During this period
9434-428: The British Mandate broke out in Palestine, and Ramallah soon became a center of insurgent activity. The rebels subsequently established a court 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." Following
9612-448: The Byzantine alliance. This dispute resulted in the march stalling in north Syria. The crusaders were becoming aware of the chaotic state of Muslim politics through frequent diplomatic relations with the Muslim powers. Raymond indulged in a small expedition. He bypassed Shaizar and laid siege to Arqa to enforce the payment of a tribute. In Raymond's absence, Bohemond expelled Raymond's last troops from Antioch and consolidated his rule in
9790-423: The Byzantine imperial church, and their religious leaders often came from the Byzantine capital, Constantinople . In the 5th century, the Nestorians , and the Monophysite Jacobites , Armenians , and Copts , broke with the Byzantine state church. The Maronites ' separate church organisation emerged under Muslim rule. During the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the Byzantine Empire had been on
9968-408: The Byzantines and Franks jointly besieged Aleppo and Shaizar but could not take the towns. Zengi soon seized Homs from the Damascenes, but a Damascene–Jerusalemite coalition prevented his southward expansion. Joscelin made an alliance with the Artuqid Kara Arslan , who was Zengi's principal Muslim rival in Upper Mesopotamia. While Joscelin was staying west of the Euphrates at Turbessel, Zengi invaded
10146-450: The Byzantines from campaigning in the Levant. In theory, Saladin was Nur ad-Din's lieutenant, but mutual distrust hindered their cooperation against the crusader states. As Saladin remitted suspiciously small revenue payments to him, Nur ad-Din began gathering troops for an attack on Egypt, but he died in May 1174. He left an 11-year-old son, As-Salih Ismail al-Malik . Within two months, Amalric died. His son and successor, Baldwin IV,
10324-435: The Byzantines, Arabs, and Turks squeezed populations of Armenians . The Seljuks contested control of southern Palestine with Egypt, where Shia rulers ruled a majority Sunni populace through powerful viziers who were mainly Turkic or Armenian, rather than Egyptian or Arab. The Seljuks and the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt hated each other, as the Seljuk saw themselves as defenders of the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate and Fatimid Egypt
10502-518: The Catholic Holy Family Church was started. As of 2022 , Ramallah also has a Coptic Orthodox Church , an Evangelical Lutheran Church and an Episcopalian (Anglican) Church . In the 19th century, the Religious Society of Friends ( Quakers ) established a presence in Ramallah and built the Ramallah Friends Schools , 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
10680-417: The Christians consisting of 2,162 Orthodox, 1 Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite), 332 Roman Catholics , 144 Greek Catholic ( Melkite Catholic ), 211 Church of England , and 122 "other". The population increased at the time of the 1931 census to 4,286 (3,766 Christians, 519 Muslims and one Jew) in a total of 1,014 houses. In the 1938 village statistics, the population is listed as 4,900. In the 1945 statistics ,
10858-566: The Cilician Armenian prince, Ruben III . Saladin granted a truce to Bohemond and made preparations for an invasion of Jerusalem where Guy took command of the defence. When Saladin invaded Galilee, the Franks responded with what William of Tyre described in his contemporaneous chronicle as their largest army in living memory but avoided fighting a battle. After days of fierce skirmishing, Saladin withdrew towards Damascus. Baldwin dismissed Guy from his position as bailli , apparently because Guy had proved unable to overcome factionalism in
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#173277184822911036-498: The Cilician plain. In 1133, the Antiochene nobility asked Fulk to propose a husband for Constance, and he selected Raymond of Poitiers , a younger son of William IX of Aquitaine . Raymond finally arrived in Antioch three years later and married Constance. He reconquered parts of Cilicia from the Armenians. In 1137, Pons was killed battling the Damascenes, and Zengi invaded Tripoli. Fulk intervened, but Zengi's troops captured Pons' successor Raymond II , and besieged Fulk in
11214-477: The Crusaders' armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem was passing through the Syria region . Edessa, under the rule of Greek Orthodoxy , was subject to a coup d'état in which the leadership was taken over by Baldwin of Boulogne , and Bohemond of Taranto remained as the ruling prince in the captured city of Antioch . The siege of Jerusalem in 1099 resulted in a decisive Crusader victory over the Fatimid Caliphate , after which territorial consolidation followed, including
11392-473: The Ecumenical Patriarch against the Papacy, but the East–West Schism was not yet inevitable, and the Catholic and Orthodox Churches remained in full communion . The Gregorian Reform enhanced the popes' influence on secular matters. To achieve political goals, popes excommunicated their opponents, placed entire realms under interdict and promised spiritual rewards to those who took up arms for their cause. In 1074 Pope Gregory VII even considered leading
11570-403: The Euphrates. As the crusaders marched towards Antioch, Syrian Muslims asked Sultan Barkiyaruq for help, but he was engaged in a power struggle with his brother Muhammad Tapar . At Antioch, Bohemond persuaded the other leaders the city should be his if he could capture it, and Alexios did not come to claim it. Alexios withdrew, rather than join the siege, after Stephen, Count of Blois (who
11748-483: The Frankish lands east of the river in late 1144. Before the end of the year, he captured the region, including the city of Edessa. Losing Edessa strategically threatened Antioch and limited opportunities for a Jerusalemite expansion in the south. In September 1146, Zengi was assassinated, possibly on orders from Damascus. His empire was divided between his two sons, with the younger Nur ad-Din succeeding him in Aleppo. A power vacuum in Edessa allowed Joscelin to return to
11926-403: The Franks and the indigenous peoples. Despite sometimes receiving homage from, and acting as regent for, the rulers of the other states; the king held no formalised overlord status, and those states remained legally outside the kingdom. Jews, Christians, and Muslims respected Palestine, known as the Holy Land , as an exceptionally sacred place. They all associated the region with the lives of
12104-714: The Franks offered the regency and the Egyptian invasion's command to Baldwin's crusader cousin Philip I, Count of Flanders . He wanted to be free to return to Flanders and rejected both offers. The plan for the invasion was abandoned, and the Byzantine fleet sailed for Constantinople. Baldwin negotiated a marriage between Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy , and Sibylla, but the succession crisis in France prevented him from sailing. Tension between Baldwin's maternal and paternal relatives grew. When Raymond and Bohemond, both related to him on his father's side, came to Jerusalem unexpectedly before Easter in 1180, Baldwin panicked, fearing they had arrived to depose him and elevate Sibylla to
12282-417: The French colonial experience in the Levant, though this was rejected by 20th-century historians. Their consensus was that the Frankish population, as the Western Europeans were known at the time, lived as a minority society that was largely urban and isolated from the indigenous Levantine peoples , having separate legal and religious systems. The ancient Jewish communities that had survived and remained in
12460-423: The French nobleman Raynald of Châtillon as her second husband. From 1149, all Fatimid caliphs were children, and military commanders were competing for power. Ascalon, the Fatimids' last Palestinian bridgehead, hindered Frankish raids against Egypt, but Baldwin captured the town in 1153. The Damascenes feared further Frankish expansion, and Nur ad-Din seized the city with ease a year later. He continued to remit
12638-480: The Holy Land, although in the decades following the destruction of the large Crusade of 1101 in Anatolia, only smaller groups of armed pilgrims departed for Outremer. The Fatimids' feud with the Seljuks hindered Muslim actions for more than a decade. Outnumbered by their enemies, the Franks remained in a vulnerable position, but they could forge temporary alliances with their Armenian, Arab, and Turkic neighbours. Each crusader state had its own strategic purpose during
12816-632: The Holy Land. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built to commemorate Christ's crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem. The Church of the Nativity was thought to enclose his birthplace in Bethlehem . The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque commemorated Muhammad's night journey. Although the most sacred places of devotion were in Palestine, there were also shrines in neighbouring Syria. As
12994-534: 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 . Schoolchildren in Ramallah handed out olive branches to Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets. In December 1995, in keeping with the Oslo Accords , the Israeli army abandoned
13172-578: The Israeli Human Rights activists, the development of Jewish settlements in the Ramallah area, such as Beit El and Psagot , 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 were jailed or deported to neighboring countries. In December 1987, the popular uprising known as
13350-503: The Japanese government. Ramallah hosted its first annual international film festival in 2004. 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
13528-570: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, the southernmost and most prominent state, covered an area in what is now Israel , Palestine , southern Lebanon, and western Jordan . The description "Crusader states" can be misleading, as from 1130 onwards, very few people among the Franks were Crusaders. Medieval and modern writers use the term "Outremer" as a synonym, derived from the French word for overseas . By 1098,
13706-572: The Levant collapsed shortly thereafter, when the Mamluks captured Acre in 1291 , ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem nearly 200 years after it was founded. With all four of the states defeated and annexed, the survivors fled to the Kingdom of Cyprus , which had been established by the Third Crusade . The study of the Crusader states in their own right, as opposed to being a sub-topic of the Crusades , began in 19th-century France as an analogy to
13884-564: The Levant profoundly. Frankish rulers replaced local warlords in the cities, but large-scale colonisation did not follow, and the new conquerors did not change the traditional organisation of settlements and property in the countryside. The Muslim leaders were massacred or forced into exile, and the natives, accustomed to the rule of well-organised warbands, offered little resistance to their new lords. Western Christianity's canon law recognised that peace treaties and armistices between Christians and Muslims were valid. The Frankish knights regarded
14062-470: The Mediterranean coast to Jerusalem. On 15 July 1099, crusaders took the city after a siege lasting barely longer than a month. Thousands of Muslims and Jews were killed, and the survivors sold into slavery. Proposals to govern the city as an ecclesiastical state were rejected. Raymond refused the royal title, claiming only Christ could wear a crown in Jerusalem. This may have been to dissuade
14240-649: The Muslims were on the offensive , and commercial contacts primarily enriched the Islamic world . Europe was rural and underdeveloped, offering little more than raw materials and slaves in return for spices, cloth, and other luxuries from the Middle East . Climate change during the Medieval Warm Period affected the Middle East and western Europe differently. In the east, it caused droughts, while in
14418-405: The Palestinian Authority. The PIF have begun work on a $ 400 million commercial center comprising 13 towers which will be some of the tallest in Ramallah. The Ersal Commercial Center has drawn investment from a Saudi Arabian firm, The Land Holding, which has a 10% stake. It is not the only Gulf Arab firm investing in Ramallah and its outskirts. The Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company has
14596-668: The Palestinian National Authority , the Palestinian Legislative Council , 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, Muslims constituted a majority of Ramallah's 38,998 residents by 2017, with Christians making up a significant minority. Ramallah
14774-507: The Palestinian government of Salam Fayyad has abandoned Jerusalem in favor of Ramallah." In November 2011, King Abdullah II of Jordan visited Ramallah for the first time since 2000. This area enjoys a Mediterranean climate of a dry summer and mild, rainy winter with occasional snowfall. The recorded average of Ramallah's rainfall is about 615 mm (24 in) and minimum rainfall is 307 mm (12 in) and maximum rainfall
14952-586: 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. In December 2005, local elections were held in Ramallah in which candidates from three different factions competed for
15130-566: The Seljuk state worked when family ties and personal loyalty overlapped the leaders' personal ambitions, the lavish iqta' grants combined with rivalries between maliks , atabegs , and military commanders could lead to disintegration in critical moments. The region's ethnic and religious diversity led to alienation among the ruled populations. In Syria, the Seljuk Sunnis ruled indigenous Shias . In Cilicia and northern Syria,
15308-549: The Seljuk threat. What the Emperor probably had in mind was a relatively modest force, and Urban far exceeded his expectations by calling for the First Crusade at the later Council of Clermont . He developed a doctrine of bellum sacrum (Christian holy war) and, based mainly on Old Testament passages in which God leads the Hebrews to victory in war, reconciled this with Church teachings. Urban's call for an armed pilgrimage for
15486-591: The Seljuks of Rum, Saladin concluded a two-year truce with Baldwin and, after launching a short but devastating campaign along the coast of Tripoli, with Raymond. For the first time in the history of Frankish–Muslim relations, the Franks could not set conditions for the peace. Between 1180 and 1183, Saladin asserted his suzerainty over the Artuqids, concluded a peace treaty with the Rum Seljuks, seized Aleppo from
15664-520: The Sultanate of Rum to reopen the Anatolian pilgrimage route towards the Holy Land. His defeat at Myriokephalon weakened the Byzantines' hold on Cilicia. Upholding the balance of power in Syria was apparently Raymond's main concern during his regency. When Saladin besieged Aleppo in 1174, Raymond led a relief army to the city; next year, when a united Zengid army invaded Saladin's realm, he signed
15842-560: The Turkic mounted warlords as their peers with familiar moral values, and this familiarity facilitated their negotiations with the Muslim leaders. The conquest of a city was often accompanied by a treaty with the neighbouring Muslim rulers who were customarily forced to pay a tribute for the peace. The crusader states had a special position in Western Christianity's consciousness: many Catholic aristocrats were ready to fight for
16020-467: The West for campaigning. Thierry, Baldwin, Raynald and Raymond III of Tripoli attacked Shaizar. Baldwin offered the city to Thierry, who refused Raynald's demands he become his vassal, and the siege was abandoned. After Nur ad-Din seized Shaizar in 1157, the Nizari remained the last independent Muslim power in Syria. As prospects for a new crusade from the West were poor, the Franks of Jerusalem sought
16198-610: The Zengids and re-established the Egyptian navy. Meanwhile, after the truce expired in 1182, Saladin demonstrated the strategic advantage he had by holding both Cairo and Damascus. While he faced Baldwin in Oultrejordain, his troops from Syria pillaged Galilee. The Franks adopted a defensive tactic and strengthened their fortresses. In February 1183, a Jerusalemite assembly levied an extraordinary tax for defence funding. Raynald
16376-505: The ailing Baldwin V's guardianship. As there was no consensus on what should happen if the boy king died, it would be for the pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, the kings of France and England to decide whether his mother Sibylla or her half-sister Isabella had stronger claim to the throne. Bohemond was staying at Acre around this time, allegedly because Baldwin IV wanted to secure Bohemond's support for his decisions on
16554-483: The army. In November 1183, Baldwin made Guy's five-year-old stepson, also called Baldwin , co-ruler, and had him crowned king while attempting to annul the marriage of Guy and Sibylla. Guy and Sibylla fled to Ascalon, and his supporters vainly intervened on their behalf at a general council. An embassy to Europe was met with offers of money but not of military support. Already dying, Baldwin IV appointed Raymond bailli for 10 years, but charged Joscelin with
16732-480: The balance of Muslims and Christians began to change. 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. During World War I ,
16910-528: The barons but Baldwin of Ibelin and Raymond swore fealty to the royal couple. Baldwin went into exile, and Raymond forged an alliance with Saladin. Raynald seized another caravan, which violated the truce and prompted Saladin to assemble his forces for the jihād. Raymond allowed Muslim troops to pass through Galilee to raid around Acre. His shock at the Frankish defeat in the resulting Battle of Cresson brought him to reconciliation with Guy. Guy now gathered
17088-421: The barons to Nablus to a general council. In his absence, Sybilla's supporters, led by Joscelin and Raynald, took full control of Jerusalem, Acre and Beirut. Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem crowned her queen and appointed Guy her co-ruler. The barons assembling at Nablus offered the crown to Isabella's husband Humphrey IV of Toron , but he submitted to Sybilla to avoid a civil war. After his desertion, all
17266-466: The border castle of Montferrand . Fulk surrendered the castle and paid Zengi 50,000 dinars for his and Raymond's freedom. Emperor Alexios' son and successor, John II Komnenos , reasserted Byzantine claims to Cilicia and Antioch. His military campaign compelled Raymond of Poitiers to give homage and agree that he would surrender Antioch by way of compensation if the Byzantines ever captured Aleppo, Homs , and Shaizar for him. The following year
17444-728: 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 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 (CA), established in 1981,
17622-613: The ceremony, the Patriarch abandoned his claim to rule the Holy Land. Tancred remained defiant to Baldwin until an Antiochene delegation offered him the regency in March 1101. He ceded his Principality of Galilee to the king, but reserved the right to reclaim it as a fief if he returned from Antioch within fifteen months. For the next two years, Tancred ruled Antioch. He conquered Byzantine Cilicia and parts of Syria. The Fatimid Caliphate attacked Jerusalem in 1101 , 1102 and 1105 , on
17800-504: The city leaders sought external protection. They allied with the adventurous Artuqid princes, Ilghazi and Balak , who inflicted crucial defeats on the Franks between 1119 and 1124, but could rarely prevent Frankish counter-invasions. In 1118 Baldwin of Bourcq succeeded Baldwin I as King of Jerusalem, naming Joscelin his successor in Edessa. After Roger was killed at Ager Sanguinis ('Field of Blood'), Baldwin II assumed
17978-513: The city, but he was unable to take the citadel. When Nur ad-Din arrived, the Franks were trapped, Joscelin fled and the subsequent sack left the city deserted. The fall of Edessa shocked Western opinion, prompting the largest military response since the First Crusade. The new crusade consisted of two great armies led overland by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany , arriving in Acre in 1148. The arduous march had greatly reduced
18156-457: The connection between the two processes is unclear. As feudal lordships could be established by the acquiring land, western aristocrats willingly launched offensive military campaigns, even against faraway territories. Catholic Europe's expansion in the Mediterranean began in the second half of the 11th century. Norman warlords conquered southern Italy from the Byzantines and ousted the Muslim rulers from Sicily; French aristocrats hastened to
18334-569: 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
18512-542: The conquest, but tens of thousands of Franks were enslaved. Those who could negotiate a free passage or were ransomed swarmed to Tyre, Tripoli, or Antioch. Conrad of Montferrat commanded the defences of Tyre . He was William's brother and arrived only days after Hattin. The childless Raymond died, and Bohemond's younger son, also called Bohemond , assumed power in Tripoli. After news of the Franks' devastating defeat at Hattin reached Italy, Pope Gregory VIII called for
18690-525: The defence of the northern crusader states took much of Baldwin II's time. His absence, its impact on government, and his placement of relatives and their vassals in positions of power created opposition in Jerusalem. Baldwin's sixteen-month captivity led to a failed deposition attempt by some of the nobility, with the Flemish count , Charles the Good , considered as a possible replacement. Charles declined
18868-635: The depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times. Crusader states The Crusader states , or Outremer , were four Catholic polities that existed in the Levant from 1098 to 1291. Following the principles of feudalism , the foundation for these polities was laid by the First Crusade by the European Christians, which was proclaimed by the Latin Church in 1095 in order to reclaim
19046-448: The developing Principality of Antioch. Under pressure from the poorer Franks, Godfrey and Robert II, Count of Flanders reluctantly joined the eventually unsuccessful siege of Arqa. Alexios asked the crusade to delay the march to Jerusalem, so the Byzantines could assist. Raymond's support for this strategy increased division among the crusade leaders and damaged his reputation among ordinary crusaders. The crusaders marched along
19224-545: The disintegration of the Seljuk Empire revived the old Levantine system of city-states. The region had always been highly urbanised, and the local societies were organised into networks of interdependent settlements, each centred around a city or a major town. These networks developed into autonomous lordships under the rule of a Turkic, Arab or Armenian warlord or town magistrate in the late 11th century. The local quadis took control of Tyre and Tripoli ,
19402-536: The early 11th century, called the Western Christians who came from Europe Franci irrespective of their ethnicity. Byzantine Greek sources use Φράγκοι Frangi and Arabic الإفرنجي al-Ifranji . Alternatively, the chronicles used Latini , or Latins . These medieval ethnonyms reflect that the settlers could be differentiated from the indigenous population by language and faith. The Franks were mainly French-speaking Roman Catholics, while
19580-488: 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 , 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
19758-498: The feudal armies commanded by western nobles. By dazzling them with wealth and charming them with flattery, Alexios extracted oaths of fealty from most of the Crusader commanders. As his vassals, Godfrey of Bouillon , nominally duke of Lower Lorraine ; the Italo-Norman Bohemond of Taranto ; Bohemond's nephew Tancred of Hauteville ; and Godfrey's brother Baldwin of Bologne all swore that any territory gained which
19936-496: 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
20114-477: 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 empires to have ruled Palestine , such as Ancient Egypt , Ancient Rome , the Byzantine Empire , and Ayyubids , among others , have been documented by scholars largely based on
20292-583: The first Intifada. Travel to Jerusalem required special permits. The number and size of Israeli settlements 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
20470-675: The first years of its existence. Jerusalem needed undisturbed access to the Mediterranean; Antioch wanted to seize Cilicia and the territory along the upper course of the Orontes River ; and Edessa aspired to control the Upper Euphrates valley. The most powerful Syrian Muslim ruler, Toghtekin of Damascus , took a practical approach to dealing with the Franks. His treaties establishing Damascene–Jerusalemite condominiums (shared rule) in debated territories created precedents for other Muslim leaders. In August 1099, Godfrey defeated
20648-401: The grantor, or lord. A vassal owed fealty to the lord and was expected to provide military aid and advice to him. Violence was endemic, and a new class of mounted warriors, the knights , emerged. Many built castles, and their feuds brought much suffering to the unarmed population. The development of the knightly class coincided with the subjection of the formerly free peasantry into serfdom, but
20826-628: 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 . 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. Construction boom is one of the most obvious signs of West Bank economic growth, estimated at an annual rate of 8 percent. This has been attributed to relative stability and Western donor support to
21004-588: The holy cities of Jerusalem, Tiberias , Hebron , and Safed since the Jewish–Roman wars and the destruction of the Second Temple were heavily persecuted in a pattern of rampant Christian antisemitism accompanying the Crusades . The terms Crusader states and Outremer ( French : outre-mer , lit. 'overseas') describe the four feudal states established after the First Crusade in
21182-422: The immediate coastal areas, where summers are milder due to the nearby presence of cold ocean currents that may bring fog but prevent rain. Ramallah is chief financial and commercial center for the Palestinian Authority, home to the country's numerous financial institutions. Currently Ramallah is seat of power of the Palestinian Authority , whose most of the offices are located within the city. The city serves as
21360-417: The kingdom was confirmed. The Fatimid Caliphate had rival viziers, Shawar and Dirgham , both eager to seek external support. This gave Amalric and Nur ad-Din the opportunity to intervene. Amalric launched five invasions of Egypt between 1163 and 1169, on the last occasion cooperating with a Byzantine fleet, but he could not establish a bridgehead. Nur ad-Din appointed his Kurdish general Shirkuh to direct
21538-477: The kingdom. In 1134, he repressed a revolt by Hugh II of Jaffa , a relative of Melisende, but was still compelled to accept the shared inheritance. He also thwarted frequent attempts by his sister-in-law Alice to assume the regency in Antioch, including alliances with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa . Taking advantage of Antioch's weakened position, Leo , a Cilician Armenian ruler, seized
21716-513: The last occasion in alliance with Toghtekin. Baldwin I repulsed these attacks and with Genoese, Venetian, and Norwegian fleets conquered all the towns on the Palestinian coast except Tyre and Ascalon . Raymond laid the foundations of the fourth crusader state, the County of Tripoli. He captured Tartus and Gibelet and besieged Tripoli. His cousin William ;II Jordan continued
21894-528: The late 20th century from 24,722 inhabitants in 1987 to 17,851 in 1997. In the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census in 1997, Palestinian refugees 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
22072-549: The liberation of the Eastern Christians and the recovery of the Holy Land aroused unprecedented enthusiasm in Catholic Europe. Within a year, tens of thousands of people, both commoners and aristocrats, departed for the military campaign. Individual crusaders' motivations to join the crusade varied, but some of them probably left Europe to make a new permanent home in the Levant. Alexios cautiously welcomed
22250-508: The link of their prospects to a single master generated extreme loyalty. In the context of Middle Eastern politics this made them more trustworthy than relatives. Eventually, some mamluk descendants climbed the Muslim hierarchy to become king makers or even dynastic founders. In the mid-11th century, a minor clan of Oghuz Turks named Seljuks , after the warlord Saljūq from Transoxiana , had expanded through Khurasan , Iran , and on to Baghdad. There, Saljūq's grandson Tughril
22428-460: The main army and headed to the Euphrates river, engaging in local politics and seizing the fortifications of Turbessel and Rawandan , where the Armenian populace welcomed him. Thoros, then ruler of this territory, could barely control or defend Edessa, so he tried to hire the Franks as mercenaries. Later, he went further and adopted Baldwin as his son in a power-share arrangement. In March 1098,
22606-485: 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
22784-602: 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 US. Foreign travelers to Palestine in late-19th and early-20th centuries often commented on
22962-709: The military operations in Egypt. Weeks before Shirkuh died in 1169, the Fatimid caliph Al-Adid made him vizier. His nephew Saladin , who ended the Shi'ite caliphate when Al-Adid died in September 1171, succeeded Shirkuh. In March 1171, Amalric undertook a visit to Manuel in Constantinople to get Byzantine military support for yet another attack on Egypt. To this end, he swore fealty to the Emperor before his return to Jerusalem, but conflicts with Venice and Sicily prevented
23140-420: The more popular Godfrey from assuming the throne, but Godfrey adopted the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ('Defender of the Holy Sepulchre') when he was proclaimed the first Frankish ruler of Jerusalem. In Western Europe an advocatus was a layman responsible for the protection and administration of church estates. The foundation of these three crusader states did not change the political situation in
23318-582: The natives were mostly Arabic- or Greek-speaking Muslims, Christians of other denominations, and Jews. The Kingdom of Jerusalem extended over historical Palestine and at its greatest extent included some territory east of the Jordan River . The northern states covered what is now part of Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and Lebanon. These areas were historically called Syria (known to the Arabs as al-Sham ) and Upper Mesopotamia . Edessa extended east beyond
23496-542: The next decades. Raymond of Poitiers joined forces with the Nizari and Joscelin with the Rum Seljuks against Aleppo. Nur ad-Din invaded Antioch and Raymond was defeated and killed at Inab in 1149. The next year Joscelin was captured and tortured and later died. Beatrice of Saone , his wife, sold the remains of the County of Edessa to the Byzantines with Baldwin's consent. Already 21 and eager to rule alone, Baldwin forced Melisende's retirement in 1152. In Antioch, Constance resisted pressure to remarry until 1153 when she chose
23674-543: The offensive on each occasion. As Edessa was Mosul's chief rival, Mawdud directed two campaigns against the city. They caused havoc, and the county's eastern region could never recover. The Syrian Muslim rulers saw the Sultan's intervention as a threat to their autonomy and collaborated with the Franks. After an assassin, likely a Nizari, murdered Mawdud, Muhammad Tapar dispatched two armies to Syria, but both campaigns failed. As Aleppo remained vulnerable to Frankish attacks,
23852-779: The offensive, recapturing Antioch in 969, after three centuries of Arab rule, and invading Syria. Turkic brigands and their Byzantine, also often ethnically Turkic, counterparts called akritai indulged in cross-border raiding. In 1071, while securing his northern borders during a break in his campaigns against the Fatimid Caliphate, Sultan Alp Arslan defeated Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes at Manzikert . Romanos' capture and Byzantine factionalism that followed broke Byzantine border control. This enabled large numbers of Turkic warbands and nomadic herders to enter Anatolia . Alp Arslan's cousin Suleiman ibn Qutulmish seized Cilicia and entered Antioch in 1084. Two years later, he
24030-567: The offer. Baldwin had four daughters. In 1126, Bohemond reached the age of majority and married the second-oldest, Alice , in Antioch. Aleppo had plunged into anarchy, but Bohemond II could not exploit this because of a conflict with Joscelin. The new atabeg of Mosul Imad al-Din Zengi seized Aleppo in 1128. The two major Muslim centres' union was especially dangerous for the neighbouring Edessa, but it also worried Damascus's new ruler, Taj al-Muluk Buri . Baldwin's eldest daughter Melisende
24208-530: The old Islamic conflict between Sunni and Shia made the Muslim peoples more likely to wage war on each other than on Christians. The Byzantines augmented their armies with mercenaries from the Turks and Europe. This compensated for a shortfall caused by lost territory, especially in Anatolia. In 1095 at the Council of Piacenza , Emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested support from Pope Urban II against
24386-488: The popes as no more than one of the five highest ranking church leaders, titled patriarchs , and rejected the idea of papal supremacy . This opposition, together with differences in theology and liturgy, caused acrimonious disputes which escalated when a papal legate excommunicated the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054. The patriarchs of Alexandria , Antioch , and Jerusalem sided with
24564-612: 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. Sources vary about the current Christian population in the city, ranging around 25%. In the aftermath of the 1936–1939 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
24742-420: The population stood at 5,080, with Christians forming the majority of the population (4,440 Christians and 640 Muslims). 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
24920-564: The regency of Antioch for the absent Bohemond II. Public opinion attributed a series of disasters affecting the Outremer—defeats by enemy forces and plagues of locusts—as punishments for the Franks' sins. To improve moral standards, the Jerusalemite ecclesiastic and secular leaders assembled a council at Nablus and issued decrees against adultery, sodomy, bigamy, and sexual relations between Catholics and Muslims. A proposal by
25098-717: The regency of Edessa. The Byzantines took the opportunity to reconquer Cilicia. They took the port but not the citadel of Laodikeia . Bohemond returned to Italy to recruit allies and gather supplies. Tancred assumed leadership in Antioch, and his cousin Richard of Salerno did the same in Edessa. In 1107, Bohemond crossed the Adriatic Sea and failed in besieging Dyrrachion in the Balkan Peninsula . The resulting Treaty of Devol forced Bohemond to restore Laodikeia and Cilicia to Alexios, become his vassal and reinstate
25276-616: The region. On the eve of the Crusades, after a thousand years of reputedly uninterrupted succession of popes, the Papacy was Catholic Europe's oldest institution. The popes were seen as the Apostle Saint Peter 's successors, and their prestige was high. In the west, the Gregorian Reform reduced lay influence on church life and strengthened papal authority over the clergy. Eastern Christians continued to consider
25454-451: The region. In 1700, Yacoub Elias was the first Ramallah native to be ordained by the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, the Christian denomination that prevailed in the Holy Land at the time. In the early 19th century, the first Jerusalemite Greek Orthodox Christian church was built. Later, in 1852, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration , was built to replace it; it is the sole Eastern Orthodox Church in Ramallah today. There
25632-403: The reign of Herod the Great (37–4 BCE). Potsherds from the Crusader / Ayyubid 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 arched doorway from the Crusader era, called al-Burj , have been identified, but the original use of the building is undetermined. The area of Ramallah
25810-414: The rest Orthodox Greeks. 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. Ramallah grew dramatically throughout the 17th and 18th centuries as an agricultural village, attracting more (predominantly Christian) inhabitants from all around
25988-414: 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. Though experts in
26166-434: The richest heiress of the kingdom, and gaining Galilee. Nur ad-Din's empire quickly disintegrated. His eunuch confidant Gümüshtekin took As-Salih from Damascus to Aleppo. Gümüshtekin's rival, Ibn al-Muqaddam , seized Damascus but soon surrendered it to Saladin. By 1176, Saladin reunited much of Muslim Syria through warring against Gümüshtekin and As-Salih's relatives, the Zengids . That same year, Emperor Manuel invaded
26344-432: The roads impassable. In 1130 Bohemond II was killed raiding in Cilicia, leaving Alice with their infant daughter, Constance . Baldwin II denied Alice control, instead resuming the regency until his death in 1131. On his deathbed Baldwin named Fulk, Melisende, and their infant son Baldwin III joint heirs. Fulk intended to revoke the arrangement, but his favouritism toward his compatriots roused strong discontent in
26522-565: The siege after Raymond's death in 1105. It was completed in 1109 when Raymond's son Bertrand arrived. Baldwin brokered a deal, sharing the territory between them, until William Jordan's death united the county. Bertrand acknowledged Baldwin's suzerainty, although William Jordan had been Tancred's vassal. When Bohemond was released for a ransom in 1103, he compensated Tancred with lands and gifts. Baldwin of Bourcq and his cousin and vassal, Joscelin of Courtenay , were captured while attacking Ridwan of Aleppo at Harran with Bohemond. Tancred assumed
26700-446: 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. The Jamal Abdel Nasser Mosque
26878-498: The street, and the crowds threw stones and Molotov cocktails . The IDF 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
27056-408: The succession. Back in Antioch, Bohemond kidnapped Ruben of Cilicia and forced him into becoming his vassal. Saladin signed a four-year truce with Jerusalem and attacked Mosul. He could not capture the city but extracted an oath of fealty from Mosul's Zengid ruler, Izz al-Din Mas'ud , in March 1186. A few months later, Baldwin V died, and a power struggle began in Jerusalem. Raymond summoned
27234-413: The surrounding towns and villages (particularly Hebron ) buying the homes and land the émigrés left behind. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel 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
27412-430: The taking of Tripoli . In 1144, Edessa fell to the Zengid Turks , but the other three realms endured until the final years of the 13th century, when they fell to the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt . The Mamluks captured Antioch in 1268 and Tripoli in 1289 , leaving only the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which had been severely weakened by the Ayyubid Sultanate after the siege of Jerusalem in 1244 . The Crusader presence in
27590-415: The throne under their control. To thwart their coup, he sanctioned her marriage to Guy of Lusignan , a young aristocrat from Poitou . Guy's brother Aimery held the office of constable of Jerusalem , and their family had close links to the House of Plantagenet . Baldwin's mother and her clique marginalised Raymond, Bohemond and the influential Ibelin family . To prepare for a military campaign against
27768-491: The tribute that Damascus' former rulers had offered to the Jerusalemite kings. Baldwin extracted tribute from the Egyptians as well. Raynald lacked financial resources. He tortured the Latin Patriarch of Antioch , Aimery of Limoges , to appropriate his wealth and attacked the Byzantine's Cilician Armenians. When Emperor Manuel I Komnenos delayed the payment he had been promised, Raynald pillaged Byzantine Cyprus . Thierry, Count of Flanders , brought military strength from
27946-412: The two rulers' forces. At a leadership conference, including the widowed Melisende and her son Baldwin III, they agreed to attack Damascus rather than attempt to recover distant Edessa. The attack on Damascus ended in a humiliating defeat and retreat. Scapegoating followed the unexpected failure, with many westerners blaming the Franks. Fewer crusaders came from Europe to fight for the Holy Land in
28124-414: The west, it improved conditions for agriculture. Higher agricultural yields led to population growth and the expansion of commerce, and to the development of prosperous new military and mercantile elites. In Catholic Europe, state and society were organised along feudal lines. Landed estates were customarily granted in fief —that is, in return for services that the grantee, or vassal , was to perform for
28302-437: Was 13 and a leper . The accession of underage rulers led to disunity both in Jerusalem and in Muslim Syria. In Jerusalem, the seneschal Miles of Plancy took control, but unknown assailants murdered him on the streets of Acre. With the baronage's consent, Amalric's cousin, Raymond III of Tripoli, assumed the regency for Baldwin IV as bailli . He became the most powerful baron by marrying Eschiva of Bures ,
28480-451: Was a massive defeat for the Franks. Nearly all the major Frankish leaders were taken prisoner, but only Raynald and the armed monks of the military orders were executed. Raymond was among the few Frankish leaders who escaped captivity. He fell seriously ill after reaching Tripoli. Within months after Hattin, Saladin conquered almost the entire kingdom. The city of Jerusalem surrendered on 2 October 1187. There were no massacres following
28658-446: Was cut off from the rest of the compound. 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 . Throughout 2005, while the Disengagement Plan was underway, some US government officials suggested to
28836-406: Was decentralised, polyglot, and multi-national. A junior Seljuk ruling a province as an appanage was titled malik , Arabic for king. Mamluk military commanders acting as tutors and guardians for young Seljuk princes held the position of atabeg ('father-commander'). If his ward held a province in appanage, the atabeg ruled it as regent for the underage malik . On occasion,
29014-474: Was deserting) told him defeat was imminent. In June 1098, Bohemond persuaded a renegade Armenian tower commander to let the crusaders into the city. They slaughtered the Muslim inhabitants and, by mistake, some local Christians. The crusade leaders decided to return Antioch to Alexios as they had sworn to at Constantinople, but when they learnt of Alexios' withdrawal, Bohemond claimed the city for himself. The other leaders agreed, apart from Raymond, who supported
29192-476: 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. Yasser Arafat established his West Bank headquarters, the Mukataa , in Ramallah. Although considered an interim solution, Ramallah became
29370-400: 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 , and Beirut . The Friends Boys School (FBS) was founded in 1901 and opened in 1918. The Quakers opened
29548-416: Was founded in the 16th century by the Hadadeens , an Arab Christian clan. The city boasts archaeological remnants from earlier epochs. Ancient rock-cut tombs have been found near Ramallah. Located just south of the built-up area is Tell en-Nasbeh , an archeological site where biblical Mizpah in Benjamin is likely to have been located. Several Ramallah buildings incorporate masonry dating back to
29726-422: Was granted the title sultan —'power' in Arabic —by the Abbasid Caliph . The caliphs kept their legitimacy and prestige, but the sultans held political power. Seljuk success was achieved by extreme violence. It brought disruptive nomadism to the sedentary society of the Levant, and set a pattern followed by other nomadic Turkic clans such as the Danishmendids and the Artuqids . The Great Seljuk Empire
29904-405: Was his heir. He married her to Fulk of Anjou , who had widespread western connections useful to the kingdom. After Fulk's arrival, Baldwin raised a large force for an attack on Damascus. This force included the leaders of the other crusader states, and a significant Angevin contingent provided by Fulk. The campaign was abandoned when the Franks' foraging parties were destroyed, and bad weather made
30082-420: 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
30260-436: Was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine . Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-1500s by the Haddadins (also: Haddad ee n), a clan of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christians . The Haddadins (ancestors of the present-day Jadallah family, among others), and their leader Rashid el-Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River from the areas of Karak and Shoubak . The Haddadin migration
30438-450: Was killed in a conflict with the Great Seljuk Empire. Between 1092 and 1094, Nizam al-Mulk, the Sultan Malik-Shah , the Fatimid Caliph, Al-Mustansir Billah and the vizier Badr al-Jamali all died. Malik-Shah's brother Tutush and the atabegs of Aleppo and Edessa were killed in the succession conflict, and Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I revived his father's Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia. The Egyptian succession resulted in
30616-412: Was later captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War . Since the 1995 Oslo Accords , Ramallah has been governed by the PNA ( Palestinian National Authority ) 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 , the official residence of the President of
30794-426: Was not united either; the French kings only controlled a small central region directly. Counts and dukes ruled other regions, and some of them were remarkably wealthy and powerful—in particular, the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy , and the counts of Anjou , Champagne , Flanders , and Toulouse . Western Christians and Muslims interacted mainly through warring or commerce. During the 8th and 9th centuries,
30972-404: 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 (al-Aqsa Intifada) in September 2000. Young Ramallah residents demonstrated daily against the Israeli army, with marches to the Israeli checkpoints at the outskirts of the city. Over time,
31150-523: Was seconded by The New York Times which, in 2010, called Ramallah the "de facto capital of the West Bank. According to Sani Meo , the publisher of This Week in Palestine , "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 . An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Ramallah had 249 houses and
31328-429: Was the chief Shi'ite power in Islam. The root of this was beyond cultural and racial conflict but originated in the splits within Islam following Muhammad's death. Sunnis supported a caliphal succession that began with one of his associates, Abu Bakr , while Shi'ites supported an alternative succession from his cousin and son-in-law, Ali . Islamic law granted the status of dhimmi , or protected peoples, to
31506-405: Was the cousin of both Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Louis VII of France. In 1176, Baldwin reached the age of 15 and majority, ending Raymond's regency. He revisited plans for an invasion of Egypt and renewed his father's pact with the Byzantines. Manuel dispatched a fleet of 70 galleys plus support ships to Outremer. As William had died, and Baldwin's health was deteriorating,
31684-414: Was the sole Frankish ruler to pursue an offensive policy. He attacked an Egyptian caravan and built a fleet for a naval raid into the Red Sea . Byzantine influence declined after Manuel died in 1180. Bohemond repulsed his Byzantine wife Theodora and married Sybil, an Antiochene noblewoman with a bad reputation. Patriarch Aimery excommunicated him and the Antiochene nobles who opposed the marriage fled to
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