A-Ram | |
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Other transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | الرّام |
• Also spelled | al-Ramm (official) al-Ram (unofficial) |
A-Ram in the background
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Location of A-Ram within the Palestinian territories | |
Coordinates: 31°51′13″N 35°14′00″E / 31.85361°N 35.23333°ECoordinates: 31°51′13″N 35°14′00″E / 31.85361°N 35.23333°E | |
Palestine grid | 172/140 |
Governorate | Jerusalem |
Government | |
• Type | Municipality |
Area | |
• Jurisdiction | 3,289 dunams (3.3 km2 or 1.3 sq mi) |
Population (2006) | |
• Jurisdiction | 25,595 |
Name meaning | "The Hill"/"Stagnant water" |
Al-Ram, A-Ram, Er Ram or al-Ramm (Arabic: الرّام;) is a Palestinian town which lies northeast of Jerusalem, just outside the city's municipal border. The village is part of the built-up urban area of Jerusalem, the Atarot industrial zone and Beit Hanina lie to the west, and Neve Ya'akov borders it on the south. with a built-up area of 3,289 dunums. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, a-Ram had a population of 25,595 in 2006. The head of a-Ram village council estimates that 58,000 people live there, more than half of them holding Israeli identity cards.
Al-Ram is thought to be the site of the biblical city of Ramah in Benjamin.
In Crusader sources, Al-Ram was named Aram, Haram, Rama, Ramatha, Ramitta, or Ramathes.
Al-Ram was one of 21 villages given by King Godfrey as a fief to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
All the inhabitants of the village who were mentioned in Crusader sources between 1152 and 1160 had names which imply they were Christian.
The village was mentioned around 1161, when a dispute about a land boundary was settled.
In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Rama, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Quds of the Liwa of Al-Quds. The population was 28 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees and vineyards, in addition to occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 4700 Akçe.