RAMALLAH

The IDF pulled out of here in December 1995 and handed over control to the Palestinian Authority and its police force.
Because of its bracing climate, Ramallah has long been a sought-after winter resort for wealthy Jordanians and Arabs from other countries.

The clean, wide streets of Ramallah make it one of the most pleasant-looking cities in the West Bank. But the security situation is still unsettled.

Ramallah's twin town of El-Bira gives it a mixed Moslem-Christian population.

You drive along the main road that seems to tend towards the right, and as you leave El-Bira you find a sign indicating ``Ofra'' to the right along Road No. 3. (There is an alternative road that by-passes Ramallah to Ofra and Beit El.) On Road No. 3 you will pass the Arab village of Birge Bitin on your right. This is the site of biblical Beit El where Jacob had his dream (Gen. 28:19), and Samuel offered sacrifices to God (I Sam. 10:3,8). The site has been dug many times since 1927, revealing important remains. It was covered up in 1960, and has since been built over. As you drive on you pass Arab villages note the amount of building going on here as on the Ramallah Road.

You then pass the settlement of Ofra. The religious families who live here maintain themselves by working at a variety of occupations from agriculture and carpentry to silk-screen printing and computer services. There is also a Field School here. About 17 kms. from Ramallah you reach the Allon Road (No. 458) that cuts through Eastern Shomron from north to south.

You now have three alternatives: (1) If you drive south you will reach the impressive gorge of Wadi Qelt (see Route No. 1) and a few kms. beyond it, the Jerusalem-Jericho highway (Road No. 1). (2) Driving straight on you reach Jericho by a secondary but scenic old road (No. 3). (3) Turning left onto the Allon Road again you follow the ridge of the Shomron hills, an arid mountain area.

Following the Allon Road north (your left) you will pass the settlements of Rimmonin, Kohav HaShahar, and Givat Adumma before you get to Ma'ale Ephraim, a townlet that offers a view of the Jordan Valley you drive down either Road No. 505 or Road No. 90 to the Jericho-Tiberias Rd. Driving back the way you came for a few kilometres, you reach a fork signposted ``Nablus.'' You take this excellent road until you get to the Jerusalem-Nablus Road. To your right: Nablus, the biggest town in Shomron, with the impressive remains of the Roman (2nd century CE) town of Sebastia (Route No. 8), 15 kms. to the north of Nablus. To the left (south) leads the winding old road (No. 60) back to Ramallah and Jerusalem.

If you drive straight on along Road No. 505 you will cross the West Bank from east to west. On the way you will pass the Jewish settlements of Tapuach, Ariel, Barakan and Elkana, as well as many Arab villages, hugging the hilltops, surrounded by tilled fields and olive groves. After passing the settlement of Elkana you will see on your right the Arab village of Kafr Kassem, and the biblical site of Izbet Sartah, where some of the earliest alphabetic inscriptions have been found (Proto-Canaanite, from the 2nd millennium BCE). This, until 1967, was the eastern border of Israel. If you stop here for a moment and look in front of you, you will see Israel's ``soft underbelly'': the most densely populated part of the country and only some 15 kms. away, the western border of Israel, the Mediterranean. It was here that Jordan had strong artillery forces and tanks massed along a 30 km. front until 1967, threatening to cut the country in two, through Israel's narrow coastal strip. Turn left (into Road No. 444) to Rosh Ha'ayin (Route No. 7), drive through the town, and turn right towards the crossing of Road No. 40, where you can choose between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.