Ramot (, ''lit.'' Heights), also known as Ramot Alon (), 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 ...

and neighborhood in

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 ...

. Ramot was founded in 1974 as one of Jerusalem's so-called " Ring settlements", considered illegal under international law. In 2020, Ramot had a population of 50,400 of which 75% consists of

Haredi Jews 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 ...

History

Ramot is named after the biblical city of Rama(h), where the Prophet

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

lived and was brought for burial: ''Now Samuel had died, and all Israel lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, and (each one lamented him) in his own city. '' (). One tradition associates biblical Rama with one of the highest peaks of the

Judean Hills The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills (, or ,) are a mountain range in the West Bank and Israel where Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and several other biblical sites are located. The mountains reach a height of . The Judean Mountains can be div ...

, reaching 885 meters above sea level. The Tomb of Samuel is located 1.3 kilometers north of Ramot, on the lands of the Arab village Nabi Samwil, which has been moved further down the hill but whose mosque is still active in the structure above the tomb. Between the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,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 ...

in 1967, most of the area that is today Ramot was under

Jordanian control Jordanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Jordan, a country in the Near East * Jordanian culture * Jordanian people, see Demographics of Jordan * Jordanian cuisine * Jordanian Arabic * Royal Jordanian, an airline See also * L ...

. Ramot was established in 1974. After the death of

Yigal Allon Yigal Allon (; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaA ...

, Israeli military and political figure, the neighborhood was officially renamed Ramot Alon, "Alon Heights".

Geography

Ramot is north and west of the center of Jerusalem. The neighborhood is built upon two elongated ridges about 100–200 meters above the surrounding landscape (heights of 693–850 meters above sea level). Between the ridges is the Golda Meir highway, leading to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. Travel time to the center of Jerusalem is about 15 minutes, and to Har Hotzvim industrial park about 7 minutes. The Jerusalem

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system will be expanded to include Ramot.

Demography

In 2020, Ramot had a population of 50,400. Ramot Alon exemplifies the demographic change in Jerusalem. When it was established in 1974, the population was 70% secular. Since 2000, Ramot Alef, Gimel and Daled have become partially

Haredi 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 ...

(also spelled Chareidi), and the percentage of

Orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tr ...

in all of Ramot Alon has risen to 75%. One side of Ramot Gimel is mostly Haredi, and the other side is more Modern Orthodox. Ramot Vav also contains a Haredi population. In all of Ramot there is a mix of other types of residents including Dati Leumi, Modern Orthodox, and Chardal. There are a few

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 ...

synagogues as well.

Legal status

Ramot was built on land expropriated from Palestinian landowners in 1970. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from two 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: *1,530

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 Beit Iksa, *134 dunams from Beit Hanina. Ramot is administered by Israel as part of the Jerusalem municipality. However, since part of the neighborhood has been built across the Green Line in East Jerusalem, the international community considers Ramot to be an Israeli settlement. Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem and maintains that developments in East Jerusalem are not settlements, but the move was condemned by the UN Security Council as "null and void" and was not recognized by the international community. 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 the transfer of a 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 ...

, but Israel considers East Jerusalem its sovereign territory. The U.S. government, as the rest of the international community, refers to Israeli neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as "settlements" and Israeli Jews living in East Jerusalem, including in Ramot, as "settlers". The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

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 ...

and the Palestinians described the plans to build 800 new homes in West Bank settlements and 600 in East Jerusalem, including 294 in Ramot, as harmful to the peace process. Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Jen Psaki, said "We consider now and have always considered the settlements to be illegitimate".

Catherine Ashton Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born 20 March 1956) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of th ...

, the EU foreign policy chief, said "the settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make the two-state solution impossible".

Saeb Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat ( ''Ṣāʼib ʻUrayqāt''; also ''ʻRēqāt, Erikat, Erakat, Arekat''; 28 April 195510 November 2020) was a Palestinian politician and diplomat who was the secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO from ...

, chief negotiator for the PLO, said the announcement "shows Israel's clear commitment to the destruction of peace efforts" and that international community should "sever all ties with the Israeli occupation ... o... protect and help to realize the two-state solution". In the context of 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 Clinton Parameters and Geneva accords proposed keeping Ramot (and other Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem beyond the green line) under Israeli sovereignty, possibly in exchange for other land.

Architecture

Buildings clustered around courtyards was a predominant architectural style in Ramot in the 1980s. Large, well-kept private homes were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s under the Build Your Own Home project, reflecting the rising standards of living in Israel and a change in consumer habits. Ramot Polin Apartments, designed by Zvi Hecker, have been named as one of the "World's Strangest Buildings" and has been described as a "housing project for honeybees". The entire neighborhood is organized upon a hill in central Ramot in a shape resembling a five-

finger A finger is a prominent digit (anatomy), digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits (dactyly, pentadact ...

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

or three-

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

Education

* Lakewood East, officially Beth Medrash Govoha of America in Eretz Yisroel is located in Ramot. * Ateret Yerushalayim, An English speaking post-high school Yeshiva. * Ohr Torah Stone - Jacob Sapirstein Junior High and High School for Boys. * Yeshiva Ohr HaTzafon, An English speaking post-high school Yeshiva. * Ahavat Yisrael - Rappaport for boys, a Chardal primary and Jr. High School. * Noam Ramot (boys and girls), a primary School.

Parks and nature trails

*Ramot Forest is located in Ramot. At the edge of the forest is the Gan Kipod children's park featuring a porcupine-shaped slide. *Ramot Forest Gazelle Trail, a natural Gazelle habitat is located there as well. *Ramot has a community swimming pool, called Ramot Community Pool. *Arazim Valley Park, a section of Jerusalem Metropolitan Park, has an entrance in Ramot.

Landmarks

In November 2009, 30-foot high bronze sculpture depicting a waving American flag turning into a flame was unveiled in Ramot, part of a five-acre memorial plaza for the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. The sculpture, located in Arazim Valley, was the first memorial outside New York to list the names of the 2,974 people killed in the attack. Part of the gray granite base, taken from the original Twin Towers, was donated by the New York municipality. Israeli sculptor Eliezer Weishoff said the memorial had to be moved 200 yards from the planned site to accommodate gazelle migration pathways. U.S. Ambassador

James B. Cunningham James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan. Cunningham previously served in various diplomatic positions, including chief of staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerne ...

and a number of congressmen attended the event. Ramot Mall, which is Jerusalem's 2nd largest mall, opened in September 2011. The

village of Nabi Samwil is located close to Ramot.

Archaeology

First Temple period

A man walking his dog fell into a pit while running in the Ramot Forest. This led to the discovery of a grape-pressing area from the

First Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it was commis ...

period.

Second Temple period

Khirbet Tililiya is the site of an ancient ruined fortress on a high hill in the center of Ramot Alon. The ruins are dated to the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

(namely the Hasmonean and

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς με ...

eras). In May 2005, a salvage excavation conducted in the Ramot neighborhood on behalf of the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

(IAA) found a rock-hewn burial cave surmounted by a massive rectangular building and a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

cave. Potsherds dating to the Ottoman period were discovered on the floor of the building. Fragments of jars and cooking pots dating to the Early Roman period were discovered in the columbarium, which is characteristic of the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and Early Roman periods.

Crusader period

There are Crusader-period remains in Ramot 2 and Ramot 6.

Neighborhoods

Ramot has seven neighborhoods; Aleph (A), Bet (B), Gimmel (G), Daled (D), and Vav (V) (also known as Ramot 06) and Ramot Polin. There is a "County" area of Ramot being built with 294 apartments. In November 2015 plans for the Ramot Slopes neighborhood was approved. A total of 1,638 housing units will be built, of which 203 will be designated for assisted living, and about 400 of which will be small apartments.

References

External links

Shchunot Portal-Ramot AlonRamot Alon's Community ManagementTehilla Community Guide for Ramot, Jerusalem
{{Coord, 31, 48, 43, N, 35, 12, 0, E, region:IL_type:mountain, display=title Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem 1974 establishments in Palestine Populated places established in 1974