Ramla
Ramla
orRamleh
(both: räm`lĕ) [Arab.,=sand], town (1994 pop. 57,300), central Israel, in a farming area. Ramla may be the biblical Ramathaim-zophimRamathaim-zophim, in the Bible, birthplace of Samuel, usually called Ramah and later Ramathaim. It has been variously identified with Ramah (4,) with Arimathaea, and with the modern Ramallah and Ramla. The land of Zuph is connected with the name.
..... Click the link for more information. , but more probably it was founded (c.716) by the Arabs. It became the capital of Palestine and was fought over constantly during the Crusades. After Israeli forces took it in 1948, Ramla was resettled with Jewish immigrants. Landmarks include the Great Mosque (originally a 12th-century Crusader church) and the Square Tower (1318).