Welcome to Ramallah, a city in the central West Bank whose name means God's Height. It sits in the Judaean Mountains, 10 kilometres north of Jerusalem, at an average height of 872 metres, right next to the town of al-Bireh. Some buildings here contain masonry from the time of Herod the Great, and local tradition says the modern town was founded in the 16th century by the Hadaddin, Arab Christians. Since the Oslo Accords of 1995 it has been governed by the Palestinian Authority and serves as the administrative capital of Palestine, with museums, cultural centres and a lively nightlife. Let's set off.
Mukataa
Photo: PalestinianLiberator · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur first stop is the Mukataa, an Arabic word for headquarters. Buildings like this were mostly built during the British Mandate as fortified government centres, and they later served the Jordanian and then the Israeli administrations. After the Oslo Accords, the Mukataa in Ramallah became a headquarters for the Palestinian Authority leadership and the office of the long-time president Yasser Arafat. It is the official residence of the president of the Palestinian National Authority. In April 2002, Israeli forces raided the Mukataas of the West Bank.
Al-Manara Square
Photo: AmeenSaeb · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWelcome to al-Manara Square, called one of Palestine's renowned public spaces. Until the end of the 19th century this spot was just part of a dirt road linking Ramallah with al-Bireh. It grew in importance after a boys' school opened nearby in 1901 and the Ottomans made Ramallah a local administrative centre in 1902. The name has a charming origin: in 1935, when the two towns were connected to the electricity grid, a switchboard controlling the street lights was placed on a pole on the road between them, and people nicknamed it al-Manara, the Lighthouse.
Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
Photo: Ja'afar Hajeer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsHere is the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, housed in an early 20th century building in traditional Palestinian style. It was founded in May 1996 as part of the Ministry of Culture and became an independent non-profit organisation in 1998. It is named after Khalil Sakakini, the Jerusalem-born scholar, poet and nationalist. The centre hosts art exhibitions, book and poetry readings, film screenings and activities for children. During curfews, it has moved some of its projects to Birzeit, Gaza City and Bethlehem so that they could carry on.
Church of Transfiguration
Photo: Ralf Lotys (Sicherlich) · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWe end at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration, inaugurated in 1852 and built in the Byzantine style. Step inside to see its sacred vessels and old icons, some dating back to 1830. Many of these treasures were brought here after smaller churches in Ramallah were destroyed during persecution and several wars. The congregation belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and those who worship here are mainly people from Ramallah and the surrounding villages.
Lomakuume
