RAMLEH. - A city in Palestine southeast of Jaffa. Arab writers attribute the founding of the city to the Umayyad caliph Sulaymān (716), who intended to create an Arab capital of Palestine. Its inhabitants were predominantly Muslim, but also included Jews and Christians. The minaret built at that time was completed using columns that Christians had prepared for their church. From this period remains a vaulted cistern popularly called St. Helena’s Cistern.
In the 12th century, the Crusaders identified the city as Arimathea (v.) and attributed great antiquity to II. On the ruins of an ancient structure they erected the great basilica of St. John, excellently preserved to this day, though reduced to a mosque. Since Ramleh was an important point on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road, which could not be traveled in a single day—and especially since pilgrims wished to visit nearby Lydda (v.)—the Franciscans built a hospice there as early as 1395, which remained in operation until modern times. It can be said that nearly all pilgrims to the Holy Land (v. PELLEGRINAGGIO) lodged there. In 1799, Napoleon, during the siege of Jaffa, established his headquarters there, and after his departure the Turks took revenge by destroying the building. Ramleh has a watchtower known as the “edificio.” In 1948 the city passed to the State of Israel, and of its current 13,000 inhabitants, the vast majority are Jewish.
