Ramat Shlomo (, lit. Shlomo's or Solomon's Heights) is an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

. The population, mostly

ultra-Orthodox Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

, is 21,000. Ramat Shlomo was built on land occupied by Israel since its capture from

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

and is considered by the international community to be an

. The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from the nearby

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

villages in order to construct Ramat Shlomo: *1,494

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s from Shuafat, *232 dunams from Beit Hanina,Beit Hanina Town Profile
pp. 13-14 *53 dunams from Beit Hanina el Balad (the old town)-Beit Hanina al Balad Village Profile
ARIJ, 2012, pp. 16-17 RamatShlomo2

Ramat Shlomo was founded in 1995. It borders Ramot to the west, Har Hotzvim to the south, and Shuafat to the east. Initially called ''Reches Shuafat'' (Shuafat Ridge), it was later named for Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.Ramat Shlomo on the Jerusalem Municipality site
/ref> Teddy Stadium was initially planned for Ramat Shlomo, but in the wake of Haredi protests the stadium and sports complex was moved to Jerusalem's

Malha Malha is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem, between Pat (Jerusalem), Pat, Ramat Denya and Kiryat Hayovel in the Valley of Rephaim. Before 1948, Malha was an Arabs, Arab village known as al-Maliha (). Malha is now an upscale neighborhood fea ...

neighbourhood. Less than 200 meters separate the neighborhood's furthermost houses from the first row of homes in Shuafat and Beit Hanina.Bad walls make bad neighbors
Daniel Ben Simon, ''Haaretz'', February 3, 2002. In June 2008, Israel's interior ministry approved construction of an additional 1,300 apartments in Ramat Shlomo. Israel says that most of the building is on land annexed by the state and thus does not violate its commitment not to build on disputed land. In March 2010, the

Jerusalem municipality The Jerusalem Municipality (), the seat of the Israeli municipal administration, consists of a number of buildings located on Jaffa Road in the city of Jerusalem. History British Mandate town hall (1930) Jerusalem's old town hall was bui ...

approved the construction of an additional 1,600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo. The announcement coincided with the visit of U.S. Vice-president

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, angering the U.S. government and prompting the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

to pull out of US-brokered indirect "proximity talks" intended to revive the

Israeli–Palestinian peace process Intermittent discussions are held by various parties and proposals put forward in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through a peace process. Since the 1970s, there has been a parallel effort made to find terms upon which ...

. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

was also critical of the decision. Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

replied that Israel's policy on building in Jerusalem was the same policy followed by all Israeli governments over the past 42 years, and had not changed. In October 2014, Netanyahu approved the construction of 660 additional units, followed by an additional 500 in November. In November 2015 Netanyahu gave approval to begin marketing the 1,000 properties.

Political status

The neighborhood is across the Green Line on land occupied by Israel since its capture from Jordan in the 1967

and annexed to Israel in a move not recognized by the international community.
"Ramat Shlomo, built 15 years ago, is on land captured in the West Bank in 1967 and annexed to Israel in a move not recognised by the international community."
"The international community considers East Jerusalem occupied territory. Building on occupied land is illegal under international law, but Israel regards East Jerusalem – which it annexed in 1967 – as its territory." As such it is considered an

by the international community.

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

disputes this and considers Ramat Shlomo to be a neighborhood within the Israeli designated borders of Jerusalem. The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

printed an article referring to Ramat Shlomo as a settlement in the West Bank and two days later issued a correction, stating that " is a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, not a settlement in the West Bank". The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, violating the

Fourth Geneva Convention The Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (), more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1 ...

's prohibition on transferring civilian population into territory held under

military occupation Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling pow ...

. Israel disputes that East Jerusalem is occupied territory and rejects that settlements are illegal.

Archaeology

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

from the period of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

was found at Ramat Shlomo. King Herod is believed to have used stones from this quarry for his massive construction project to expand the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

. Giant stones extracted from the quarry weighed several tons. Jewish tombs have also been discovered in Ramat Shlomo dating to this period.

Landmarks

The facade of the

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

Synagogue in Ramat Shlomo is a replica of Lubavitch World Headquarters, known simply as "770" at 770 Eastern Parkway in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

.Ramat Shlomo residents don’t understand what all the fuss is about
/ref>

Notable residents

* Zvi Kogan (1996-2024), Israeli-Moldovan rabbi killed in the United Arab Emirates

References

{{Coord, 31, 48, 37.72, N, 35, 13, 4.97, E, display=title Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem Ring Settlements, East Jerusalem Orthodox Jewish communities in Jerusalem Haredi Judaism in Jerusalem Populated places established in 1995 1995 establishments in Palestine