Settlements Established in the 16th Century - Ramallah (Paperback)

Chapters: Ramallah. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 74. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ramallah - Ramallah (Arabic: ) Rmallh) (literally "Height of God") is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank adjacent to al-Bireh with a population of nearly 25,500. Ramallah is located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem and currently serves as the administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority. Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-1500s by the Haddadins, a tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. The Haddadins, led by Rashid Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River near what is now the Jordanian town of Shobak. The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area. According to modern living descendents of original Haddadin family members, Rahid's brother Sabri Haddadin was hosting Emir Ibn Kaysoom, head of a powerful Muslim clan in the region, when Sabri's wife gave birth to a baby girl. According to custom, the Emir proposed a betrothal to his own young son when they came of age. Sabri believed the proposal was in jest, as Muslim-Christian marriages were not customary, and gave his word. When the Emir later came to the Haddadins and demanded that they fulfill their promise, they refused. This set off bloody conflict between the two families. The Haddadins fled west and settled on the hilltops of Ramallah, where only a few Muslim families lived at the time. Today, a large community of people descended directly from the Haddadins live in the United States. The town is now predominately Muslim. Woman in Ramallah costume, c. 1898-1914Ramallah grew throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an agricultural village, thus attracting more (predominantly Christian) inhabitants from around the region. In...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=44132