Editing Ramallah (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Ramallah was founded in the 16th century by the ''Hadadeens'', an [[Arab Christians|Arab Christian]] clan. The city boasts archaeological remnants from earlier epochs.<ref name=":0" /> [[Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel|Ancient rock-cut tombs]] have been found near Ramallah.<ref>{{harvnb|Conder|Kitchener|1883|p=155}}</ref> Located just south of the built-up area is [[Tell en-Nasbeh]], an [[Archaeological site|archeological site]] where biblical [[Mizpah in Benjamin]] is likely to have been located.<ref name=":0" />

Several Ramallah buildings [[Spolia|incorporate masonry]] dating back to the reign of [[Herod the Great]] (37–4 BCE).<ref name=":0" /> [[Potsherd]]s from the [[Crusader states|Crusader]]/[[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] and early Ottoman period have also been found there.<ref name="Finkelstein">{{harvnb|Finkelstein|Lederman|1997|p=353}}</ref> Ramallah has been identified with the [[Crusader states|Crusader]] place called ''Ramalie''.<ref>{{harvnb|Rey|1883|p=389}}</ref><ref>Prawer and Benvenisti, 1970, cited in Finkelstein and Lederman, 1997, p. 353</ref> Remains of a building with an [[arch]]ed doorway from the Crusader era, called ''al-Burj'', have been identified,<ref>{{harvnb|Pringle|1997|p=90}}</ref> but the original use of the building is undetermined.<ref>{{harvnb|Pringle|1997|p=12}}</ref>

===Ottoman period===
The area of Ramallah was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1517 with all of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-1500s by the Haddadins (also: Haddad''ee''n), a clan of brothers descended from [[Ghassanid]] [[Christians]]. The Haddadins (ancestors of the present-day Jadallah family, among others), and their leader Rashid el-Haddadin, arrived from east of the [[Jordan River]] from the areas of [[Al Karak|Karak]] and [[Shoubak]].<ref name="laoc">{{Cite web|url=http://ramallahlaoc.org/history.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029233225/http://www.ramallahlaoc.org/history.aspx |url-status=dead |title=American Federation of Ramallah Palestine<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=October 29, 2008}}</ref> The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area.

Haddadin was attracted to the mountainous site of Ramallah because it was similar to the mountainous areas he came from. In addition, the heavily forested area could supply him with plenty of fuel for his forges.<ref name="laoc" /> In 1596, Ramallah was listed in the [[Defter|tax registers]] as being in the ''[[nahiya]]'' of Quds (Jerusalem), part of the ''[[Jerusalem Sanjak|Liwa of Quds]]''. It had a population of 71 Christian households and 9 [[Muslim]] households. It paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on wheat, barley, olives, vines or fruit trees, and goats or beehives; a total of 9,400 [[akçe]]. All of the revenue went to a [[waqf]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hütteroth|Abdulfattah|1977|p=121}}</ref>

In 1838, American biblical scholar [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] visited the area, noting that the inhabitants were Christian "of the Greek rite". There were 200 taxable men, which gives an estimated total population of 800–900 people. The village "belonged" to the [[Haram al-Sharif]], Jerusalem, to which it paid an annual tax of 350 Mids of grain.<ref>{{harvnb|Robinson|Smith|1841|pp=133–134}}</ref> In 1883, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s ''[[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]]'' described Ramallah as

<blockquote>A large Christian village, of well-built stone houses, standing on a high ridge, with a view on the west extending to the sea. It stands amongst gardens and olive-yards, and has three springs to the south and one on the west; on the north there are three more, within a mile from the village. On the east there is a well. There are rock-cut tombs to the north-east with well-cut entrances, but completely blocked with rubbish. In the village is a Greek church, and on the east a Latin convent and a Protestant schoolhouse, all modern buildings. The village lands are [[Wakuf]], or ecclesiastical property, belonging to the Haram of Jerusalem. About a quarter of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, the rest Orthodox Greeks.<ref>{{harvnb|Conder|Kitchener|1883|p=13}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Christian presence, 17th–21st century ===
[[File:2010-08 Ramallah 39.jpg|thumb|An old Christian cemetery in Ramallah|left]]

Ramallah grew dramatically throughout the 17th and 18th centuries as an agricultural village, attracting more (predominantly Christian) inhabitants from all around the region.<ref name=visit>{{Cite web|url=https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/19/Greek-Catholic-%E2%80%9CMelkite%E2%80%9D-Church|title=Greek Catholic "Melkite" Church|website=visitramallah.ramallah.ps|access-date=May 17, 2022|archive-date=May 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517203358/https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/19/Greek-Catholic-%E2%80%9CMelkite%E2%80%9D-Church|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1700, Yacoub Elias was the first Ramallah native to be ordained by the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] of Jerusalem, the Christian denomination that prevailed in the Holy Land at the time. In the early 19th century, the first Jerusalemite Greek Orthodox Christian church was built. Later, in 1852, the [[Church of Transfiguration, Ramallah|Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration]], was built to replace it; it is the sole [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] in Ramallah today.<ref name="visit" />

There is also a [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]] in Ramallah, built in 1895.<ref name="visit" /> The [[Roman Catholic Church]] also established its presence in Ramallah the 19th century and constitutes today the second-largest Christian denomination in the city. The Roman Catholic Church established the St. Joseph's Girls' School run by St. Joseph sisters, as well as the co-educational Al-Ahliyyah College high school run by Rosary sisters. In 1913, construction of the Catholic [[Holy Family Church, Ramallah|Holy Family Church]] was started.

{{as of|2022}}, Ramallah also has a [[Coptic Orthodox Church]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/20/Coptic-Church|title=Coptic Church|website=visitramallah.ramallah.ps|access-date=May 17, 2022|archive-date=May 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517203323/https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/20/Coptic-Church|url-status=live}}</ref> an [[Lutheranism|Evangelical Lutheran Church]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/21/Evangelical-Lutheran-Church-|title=Evangelical Lutheran Church|website=visitramallah.ramallah.ps|access-date=May 17, 2022|archive-date=May 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517203325/https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/21/Evangelical-Lutheran-Church-|url-status=live}}</ref> and an [[Anglicanism|Episcopalian (Anglican) Church]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/22/Episcopalian-Church|title=Episcopalian Church|website=visitramallah.ramallah.ps|access-date=May 17, 2022|archive-date=May 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517203326/https://visitramallah.ramallah.ps/en/article/22/Episcopalian-Church|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 19th century, the [[Quakers|Religious Society of Friends]] ([[Quakers]]) established a presence in Ramallah and built the [[Ramallah Friends Schools]], one for girls and later a boys' school, to alleviate the dearth of education for women and girls. Eli and Sybil Jones opened "The Girls Training Home of Ramallah" in 1869. A medical clinic was established in 1883, with Dr. George Hassenauer serving as the first doctor in Ramallah. In 1889, the girls academy became the Friends Girls School (FGS). As the FGS was also a boarding school, it attracted a number of girls from surrounding communities, including Jerusalem, [[Lydda]], [[Jaffa]], and [[Beirut]]. The Friends Boys School (FBS) was founded in 1901 and opened in 1918. The Quakers opened a Friends Meeting House for worship in the city center in 1910.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palfriends.org/schoolhistory.php |title=Religious Society of Friends (Palestine) |publisher=Palfriends.org |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029211841/https://www.palfriends.org/schoolhistory.php |archive-date=October 29, 2011 }}</ref> According to the school's official website, most high school students choose to take the [[International Baccalaureate]] exams (IBE) instead of the traditional "Tawjihi" university exams.<ref name="RamMuniRel" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palfriends.org/fbs/history.asp |title=History of Friends School |access-date=February 22, 2008 |work=Palestine Friends Boys School |publisher=Visuals Active Media |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071101091350/http://www.palfriends.org/fbs/history.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = November 1, 2007}} palfriends.org</ref>

The activity of foreign churches in Palestine in the late 19th century increased awareness of prosperity in the West. In Ramallah and [[Bethlehem]], a few miles south, local residents began to seek economic opportunity overseas. In 1901, merchants from Ramallah emigrated to the United States and established import-export businesses, selling handmade rugs and other exotic wares across the Atlantic. Increased trade dramatically improved living standards for Ramallah's inhabitants. American cars, mechanized farming equipment, radios, and later televisions became attainable luxuries for upper-class families. As residents of Jaffa and Lydda moved to Ramallah, the balance of Muslims and Christians began to change.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

In the 21st century, a large community of people with direct descent from the Haddadins who founded Ramallah live in the United States. The town is now predominately Muslim, but still contains a Christian minority. The change in demographics is due mostly to new migration of Muslims to the area, and emigration of Christians from the area.<ref name=laoc/>

=== British Mandate ===
[[File:Ramallah, Quaker Mission School. Photographed in 1937 LOC matpc.09098.jpg|thumb|[[Ramallah Friends Schools]], 1937]]During [[World War I]], the [[British Army]] captured and [[Occupied Enemy Territory Administration|occupied]] Ramallah in December 1917. The city remained occupied until the designation of the [[Mandate for Palestine|Palestine Mandate]] in 1920, resulting in Ramallah falling under [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandatory control]] until 1948. In the 1920s, the economy of Ramallah started to improve, resulting in the local Arab [[upper class]] (consisting primarily of landowners and merchants) ordering the construction of several multi-storied villas, many of which still stand today.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koolpages.com/wael2003/history.htm |title=From a Village to a Town |access-date=February 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223214116/http://www.koolpages.com/wael2003/history.htm |archive-date=December 23, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 1939, the [[Jerusalem Electric Company]] introduced electricity to Ramallah, and a majority of the city's homes became wired shortly thereafter. On the same year, the British Mandatory authorities inaugurated the state-owned [[Palestine Broadcasting Service]] in Ramallah, with [[BBC]] members training local radio staff to deliver daily broadcasts in Arabic, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and English. The station was later renamed [[Jerusalem Calling]].{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In 1936, an [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine|Arab revolt against the British Mandate]] broke out in Palestine, and Ramallah soon became a center of insurgent activity. The rebels subsequently established a court near Ramallah, in order to provide legal alternatives to the courts of the British Mandate. One British schoolteacher noted that the Ramallah court judge began to produce "news sheets on typewriters and duplicators, aimed at publicizing the alternative rebel regime."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Matthew|date=2017|title=The Crime of Nationalism: Britain, Palestine, and Nation-Building on the Fringe of Empire|pages=130|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0520291492|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nYyDwAAQBAJ|access-date=March 21, 2023|archive-date=November 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119232950/https://books.google.com/books?id=7nYyDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Jordanian and Israeli occupation: 1948—1993===
Following the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|creation of the State of Israel]] and the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|ensuing conflict]], Jordan seized the part of Palestine they named the West Bank. This included Ramallah. The West Bank was relatively peaceful during the years of [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|Jordanian rule]] between 1948 and 1967, with its residents enjoying freedom of movement between the [[West Bank]], Jordan, [[Lebanon]], and Syria. Jordan annexed the West Bank, applying its national law to the conquered territory. However, many Palestinians were jailed for being members of "illegal political parties", which included the [[Palestine Communist Party]] and other socialist and pro-independence groups. By 1953, Ramallah's population had doubled, but the economy and infrastructure could not accommodate the influx of poor villagers. Natives of Ramallah began to emigrate, primarily to the United States. By 1956, about one fourth of Ramallah's 6,000 natives had left, with Arabs from the surrounding towns and villages (particularly [[Hebron]]) buying the homes and land the émigrés left behind.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}
<!-- Ramallah expatriates created one of the largest Arab communities in the United States, settling mainly in [[Washington (state)|Washington]], New York, Florida, California, Texas, and especially in [[Michigan]]. Many worked in the auto industry. In 1959, the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine (AFRP) was established in [[Detroit]]. The AFRP has several branches in the United States, and holds an annual convention every summer attended by a sizable number of former Ramallah residents and their offspring.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koolpages.com/wael2003/history.htm|title=koolpages.com/wael2003/history|access-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://afrp.org/aboutus.aspx|title=afrp.org|access-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref> will relocate to future demographics section (it has no relevance here whatsoever)-->[[File:2018 OCHA OpT map Ramallah.jpg|thumb|left|2018 [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|United Nations]] map of the area, showing the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]] arrangements]]
During the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967, [[Israel]] captured Ramallah from Jordan, imposing a military closure and conducting a census a few weeks later. Every person registered in the census was given an Israeli identity card which allowed the bearer to continue to reside there. Those who were abroad during the census lost their residency rights.<ref>[http://www.btselem.org/english/Family_Separation/Origins.asp "Creation of the problem of family separation in the Occupied Territories"] [[Btselem]] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605003513/http://www.btselem.org/english/Family_Separation/Origins.asp |date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref> For residents of Ramallah, the situation had now been reversed. For the first time in 19 years, residents could freely visit Israel and the [[Gaza Strip]] and engage in commerce there.

Unlike the Jordanians, Israel did not offer citizenship to the residents. Ramallah residents were issued permits to work in Israel, but did not gain the rights associated with Israeli citizenship. The city remained under Israeli military rule for more than four decades. The [[Israeli Civil Administration]] (CA), established in 1981, was in charge of civilian and day-to-day services such as issuing permission to travel, build, export or import, and host relatives from abroad.<ref>[http://www.jmcc.org/research/special/military.html Israeli Military Orders in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank] Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre (JMCC), 2nd edition, pp.241. 1995 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712042326/http://www.jmcc.org/research/special/military.html |date=July 12, 2009 }}</ref> The CA reprinted Jordanian textbooks for distribution in schools but did not update them. The CA was in charge of tax collection and land expropriation, which sometimes included Israeli seizure of olive groves that Arab villagers had tended for generations.<ref>Abdullah Salah. [http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/b43bb37dd727f0c0852570120072d4f6?Letter dated 25 May 1983 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131011153642/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/b43bb37dd727f0c0852570120072d4f6?OpenDocument |date=October 11, 2013 }}, A/38/257-S/15810 of June 2, 1983<!-- Bot generated title --></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/Chapter18_3of10.htm |title=Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem |last=Nakhleh |first=Issa |date=1991 |publisher=Palestine-encyclopedia.com |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927113622/http://www.palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/Chapter18_3of10.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref>

According to the Israeli Human Rights activists, the development of Jewish settlements in the Ramallah area, such as [[Beit El]] and [[Psagot]], prevented the expansion of the city and cut it off from the surrounding Arab villages.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Yehezkel |last1=Lein |first2=Eyal |last2=Weizman |url=http://www.brightonpalestinecampaign.org/pdfs/Articles/Land%20Grab.pdf |title=LAND GRAB: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank |website=Brightonpalestinecampaign.org |publisher=[[B'Tselem]] |date=May 2002 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924025639/http://www.brightonpalestinecampaign.org/pdfs/Articles/Land%20Grab.pdf |url-status=usurped }}</ref> As resistance increased, Ramallah residents who were members of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] were jailed or deported to neighboring countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/059/1999/en|title=ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: Demolition and dispossession: the destruction of Palestinian homes [MDE 15/59/99] |date=8 December 1999|access-date=2 October 2018|first=Anthony|last=Coon|work=Amnesty International|archive-date=November 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119193332/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/059/1999/en|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 1987, the popular uprising known as the [[First Intifada|Intifada]] erupted, protesting against the continued [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]].

Ramallah residents were among the early joiners of the [[First Intifada]]. The Intifada Unified Leadership, an umbrella organization of various Palestinian factions, distributed weekly bulletins on the streets of Ramallah with a schedule of the daily protests, strikes and action against Israeli patrols in the city. At the demonstrations, tires were burned in the street, and the crowds threw stones and [[Molotov cocktail]]s. The [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Schools in Ramallah were forcibly shut down, and opened gradually for a few hours a day.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} The Israelis conducted house arrests, imposing curfews that restricted travel and exports in what Palestinians regarded as collective punishment. In response to the closure of schools, residents organized home schooling sessions to help students make up missed material; this became one of the few symbols of civil disobedience.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmcc.org/research/reports/educate.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210223319/http://www.jmcc.org/research/reports/educate.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2007|title=JMCC / Research|date=February 10, 2007}}</ref> In December 1995, in keeping with the [[Oslo Accords]], the Israeli army abandoned the [[Mukataa]] and withdrew to the city outskirts. The newly established [[Palestinian Authority]] assumed civilian and security responsibility for the city, which was designated "Area A" under the accords.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

===Palestinian Authority rule===
The years between 1993 and 2000 (known locally as the "Oslo Years") brought relative prosperity to Ramallah. Ramallah and its immediate environs were classified as [[Palestinian enclaves|Area A]] in the [[Oslo II Accord|Oslo Accords]], under full civil and security control of the [[Palestinian Authority]] (PA) administration in September 1995.<ref>[http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.background-resource.php?resourceID=000921 1995 ''Oslo Interim Agreement''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118200125/https://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.background-resource.php?resourceID=000921 |date=January 18, 2019 }}. Text of the Accord</ref> Many expatriates returned to establish businesses there, and the atmosphere was one of optimism. In 2000, unemployment began to rise and the economy of Ramallah declined.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/dps/dps2002/dp2002-100.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102005327/http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/dps/dps2002/dp2002-100.pdf |url-status=dead |title=UNU-WIDER : Publications|archive-date=January 2, 2016|website=UNU-WIDER}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/said-end.html|title=The End of the Peace Process|work=The New York Times|date=2000|last=Said|first=Edward|author-link=Edward Said|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306040006/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/said-end.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Israel Defense Forces]] remained in control of the territories and its government did not restore the freedom of movement enjoyed by Ramallah residents prior to the first Intifada. Travel to [[Jerusalem]] required special permits. The number and size of [[Israeli settlement]]s around Ramallah increased dramatically. A network of bypass roads for use of Israeli citizens only was built around Ramallah, and Israel expropriated land for settlements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ariga.com/5759/law001.htm|title=ariga.com|website=www.ariga.com|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-date=March 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308214013/http://ariga.com/5759/law001.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/50/plenary/a50-262.htm |title=PERMANENT SOVEREIGNTY OVER NATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN AND OTHER ARAB TERRITORIES |publisher=United Nations |date=3 July 1995 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021230839/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/50/plenary/a50-262.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Many official documents previously handled by the Israeli Civil Administration were now handled by the Palestinian Authority but still required Israeli approval. A Palestinian passport issued to Ramallah residents was not valid unless the serial number was registered with the Israeli authorities, who controlled border crossings.<ref>[http://www.badil.org/e-library/Resident_PA.htm Badil.org] Badil.org {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111001943/http://www.badil.org/e-library/Resident_PA.htm |date=January 11, 2009 }}</ref>[[File:Psagot Settlement.JPG|thumb|[[Israeli settlement]] of [[Psagot]] on ''Jabal al-Tawil'' (Tawil Hill), east of Ramallah and Al-Bireh (2004)|left]]The failure of the [[Camp David 2000 Summit|Camp David summit]] in July 2000 led to the outbreak of the [[Second Intifada]] (al-Aqsa Intifada) in September 2000. Young Ramallah residents demonstrated daily against the Israeli army, with marches to the Israeli checkpoints at the outskirts of the city. Over time, the marches were replaced by sporadic use of live ammunition against Israeli soldiers; and various attacks targeting Jewish settlers, particularly on the Israeli-only bypass roads. Army checkpoints were established to restrict movement in and out of Ramallah.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=2075 |title=Zmag.org |publisher=Zmag.org |date=July 5, 2002 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20021201010732/http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?sectionid=22&itemid=2075 |archive-date=December 1, 2002 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.miftah.org/PrinterF.cfm?DocId=2294 |title=Miftah.org |publisher=Miftah.org |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=September 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926215508/http://www.miftah.org/PrinterF.cfm?DocId=2294 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.machsomwatch.org/media/tahseenYaqeen.asp?link=media&lang=eng|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101055843/http://www.machsomwatch.org/media/tahseenYaqeen.asp?link=media&lang=eng|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 1, 2007|title=מחסום WATCH|date=November 1, 2007}}</ref> On October 12, 2000, two Israeli army reservists, Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami were [[2000 Ramallah lynching|lynched in Ramallah]]. They had taken a wrong turn, and were set upon by a mob, enraged in particular by the [[Muhammad al-Durrah incident]] in Gaza.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} A frenzied crowd killed the two IDF reservists, mutilated their bodies, and dragged them through the streets.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/969778.stm |title=Lynch mob's brutal attack |date=13 October 2000 |access-date=4 October 2018 |work=BBC News |archive-date=January 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129215716/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/969778.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that afternoon, the Israeli army carried out an air strike on Ramallah, demolishing the police station. Israel later succeeded in capturing and prosecuting some of those involved in the deaths of the reservists.[[File:Ramallah Muqata'a 2013.jpg|thumb|[[Mukataa]] in 2013|left]]The IDF has occasionally operated inside Ramallah, in breach of the 1995 Oslo Accords. The first and largest incursion was the 2002 [[Operation Defensive Shield]], with a more recent intervention coming in March 2017 while attempting to arrest a suspected terrorist.<ref>Nahum Barnea, [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4780153,00.html 'Beitunian nights: The IDF in the West Bank'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118055544/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4780153,00.html |date=November 18, 2016 }}, [[Ynet]] 18 March 2016.</ref><ref name="International Business Times1">{{cite news | last =Lotto Persio | first =Sofia | title =Palestinian militant 'plotting attack in Israel' shot dead by Swat team in West Bank | language =en | publisher =International Business Times (via Yahoo.com) | date =6 March 2017 | url =https://www.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-militant-plotting-attack-israel-111219006.html | access-date =6 March 2017 | archive-date =March 7, 2017 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170307050632/https://www.yahoo.com/news/palestinian-militant-plotting-attack-israel-111219006.html | url-status =live }}</ref> In 2002, the army imposed curfews, electricity cuts, school closures and disruptions of commercial life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://icph.birzeit.edu/Emergencey%20Publications/Child%20Report%20final%202002.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612000219/http://icph.birzeit.edu/Emergencey%20Publications/Child%20Report%20final%202002.pdf |url-status=dead |title=ICPH.birzeit.edu|archive-date=June 12, 2010}}</ref> Many Ramallah institutions, including government ministries, were vandalized, and equipment was destroyed or stolen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretzdaily.com/captcha/index.php?d=haaretzdaily.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20081211195047/http://www.haaretzdaily.com/captcha/index.php?d=haaretzdaily.com|url-status=dead|title=banned interdit verboden prohibido vietato proibido|date=December 11, 2008|archive-date=December 11, 2008|access-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref> The IDF took over local Ramallah television stations, and social and economic conditions deteriorated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/wbgaza-4yrassessment.pdf |title=Siteresources.worldbank.org |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522143641/http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Resources/wbgaza-4yrassessment.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Many expatriates left, as did many other Palestinians who complained that the living conditions had become intolerable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.palestinercs.org/checkpoints.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427173009/http://www.palestinercs.org/checkpoints.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 27, 2006|title=Checkpoints|date=April 27, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.btselem.org/English/Freedom_of_Movement/Siege.asp |title=Btselem.org |publisher=Btselem.org |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605003615/http://www.btselem.org/English/Freedom_of_Movement/Siege.asp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1761785.stm |title=The Palestinians under closure |work=BBC News |date=January 20, 2002 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=February 21, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221181920/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1761785.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Construction of the [[Israeli West Bank barrier]] has added to Ramallah's isolation. [[Yasser Arafat]] established his West Bank headquarters, the [[Mukataa]], in Ramallah. Although considered an interim solution, Ramallah became the ''de facto'' capital of the Palestinian Authority, now{{When|date=March 2024}} officially{{Clarify|date=March 2024}} known as the State of Palestine.  It hosts almost all governmental headquarters.  In December 2001, Arafat held meetings at the Mukataa, but lived with his wife and daughter in [[Gaza City]]. After suicide bombings in [[Haifa]], Arafat was confined to the Ramallah compound. In 2002, the compound was partly demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces and Arafat's building was cut off from the rest of the compound.

On November 11, 2004, Arafat died at the [[Percy training hospital of the Armies]] near Paris. He was buried in the courtyard of the Mukataa on November 12, 2004. The site still serves as the Ramallah headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, as well the official West Bank office of [[Mahmoud Abbas]]. Throughout 2005, while the [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|Disengagement Plan]] was underway, some US government officials suggested to the Palestinian leadership to move the provisional capital back to Gaza, where it had been when the Palestinian Authority was first established in 1994. President Abbas, however, refrained from doing so, arguing that at this point, it was important to keep the administrative center in the West Bank in order to remind the international community that the West Bank was still awaiting a territorial solution.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thepalestinepapers.com/files/5129.PDF |title=Meeting minutes between Saeb Erekat and David Welch, ''Palestine Papers'', 16 June 2005 |access-date=January 23, 2015 |archive-date=January 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123172148/http://thepalestinepapers.com/files/5129.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Ramallah Residential.JPG|thumb|right|Residential neighborhood in Ramallah, 2005]]

In December 2005, local elections were held in Ramallah in which candidates from three different factions competed for the 15-seat municipal council for a four-year term. The council elected [[Janet Mikhail]] as mayor, the first woman to hold the post.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2006/january/middleeast_january34.xml |title=Khaleejtimes.com |publisher=Khaleejtimes.com |date=January 2, 2006 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927024336/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=middleeast&xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2006%2Fjanuary%2Fmiddleeast_january34.xml |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Karin Laub |url=http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060101/NEWS/201010358/1004/news |title=Ocala.com |publisher=Ocala.com |date=January 1, 2006 |access-date=November 13, 2011 |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928100717/http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060101%2FNEWS%2F201010358%2F1004%2Fnews |url-status=live }}</ref>

Munir Hamdan, a member of [[Fatah]] and a Ramallah businessman, discussed the concentration of government offices with a journalist. He said, "The president and prime minister have their offices here.<ref name="Toameh">[http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?id=185283 "'Palestine's new bride'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823005912/http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?id=185283|date=August 23, 2010}}, Khaled Abu Toameh, ''Jerusalem Post'', 20 August 2010</ref> So do the parliament and all the government ministries", representing a "collusion" between the Palestinian Authority and Israel to turn Ramallah into the political as well as the financial capital of the Palestinians. He is particularly worried by the construction of a large new governmental complex by the PA.<ref name=Toameh/> [[Hatem Abdel Kader]], a Jerusalem resident, Fatah legislator and former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, complained that "If they are building a new government compound here, that means they have no plans to be based in Jerusalem... Unfortunately, the Palestinian government of [[Salam Fayyad]] has abandoned Jerusalem in favor of Ramallah."<ref name=Toameh/> In November 2011, King [[Abdullah II of Jordan]] visited Ramallah for the first time since 2000.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 21, 2011 |title=Jordan's King Abdullah visits West Bank for first time in decade |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/8904168/Jordans-King-Abdullah-visits-West-Bank-for-first-time-in-decade.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222090641/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/8904168/Jordans-King-Abdullah-visits-West-Bank-for-first-time-in-decade.html |archive-date=December 22, 2016 |access-date=April 3, 2018 |work=telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>