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Ramallah (Arabic: رام الله) is a West Bank city of approximately 57,000 residents, which is currently under Palestinian Authority control. It is located about 15 kilometers (10 miles) north-west of Jerusalem.Ramallah was under Jordanian occupation from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War through the 1967 Six-Day War. It was then captured by Israeli troops, who were to remain there for 27 years. In 1994, the city was handed over to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which declared it to be "Territory A"; that is land under almost full Palestinian control. Due to the small size of this Palestinian enclave, its actual independence was always limited. Ramallah became the temporary headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, although Palestinians desired headquarters and ultimately a capital in East Jerusalem.
1 Ramallah in the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Since the beginning of the second Intifada in the autumn of 2000, the city of Ramallah was the source of attacks against Israel, in particular many of the suicide bombings carried out in Jerusalem organized in Ramallah. Groups of militants have operated around the city shooting Israeli civilians and the soldiers guarding them. In response, Israeli troops have often imposed curfews on the city, leading to great hardships among its civilian population.
Ramallah was also the place of the lynching of two Israeli reservists. They were captured by Palestinian policemen and were murdered at the police station. Their bodies were thrown into the mob, which mutilated them.
In December 2001, Yasser Arafat, the President of the Palestinian Authority who was staying in the city, was forbidden to leave until the assassins of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi were arrested. When that condition was met, Arafat was allowed to leave the city.
On March 12, 2002 Israeli tanks and troops entered Palestinian refugee camps surrounding the city and took command of some of its streets, in one of Israel's largest military operations ever in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One Israeli soldier, 31 Palestinians and an Italian journalist were killed in exchanges of fire between the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian gunmen. Since then Israeli troops have gone in and out of the city several times.
Ramallah is most famous for the MukataaMukataa (also spelled Muqataa is a compound of buildings which contain governmental offices and local administrative headquarters. The term Mukataa is derived from Arabic and it is most commonly use to describe the Palestinian government and bureaus cente which is the governmental center of Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The Mukataa, known also as "Arafat's Compound", was partly demolished by IDFThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF ( Hebrew: Ts va Ha Ha ganah L e-Yisrael [Army] Force [for] the Defense of Israel , often abbreviated " Ts''a''h''a''l alternative English spelling Tz''a''h''a''l is the name of Israel's armed forces (army, air force and navy's bulldozerA bulldozer is a powerful crawler ( caterpillar tracked tractor) equipped with a blade. The term bulldozer often used to denote any heavy engineering vehicle although the term officially relates only to the dozer blade installed on a tractor. The most coms and Arafat's headquarters was cut off from the rest of the buildings in the compund. In Operation Defensive ShieldOperation Defensive Shield (In Hebrew, ) was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israeli Defence Forces in April 2002. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. Background In March 2002, more than 135, Israel showed pictures of illegal weapons found in the Mukataa and said it proves Arafat's link to terrorism against Israel. On November 12November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. Events 764 Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days. 1028 Future Byzantine empress Zoe marri, 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, Arafat was buriedBurial also called interment and (when applied to human burial) inhumation is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. Usually, this is accomplished by digging a pit or trench, placing the person or object in it, and refilling it with the so in the courtyard of the Mukataa.
