History of Ramallah

However, many Palestinians were jailed for being members of what the Jordanian government regarded as illegal political parties, including the Palestine Communist Party and other socialist and pro-independence groups. Jordanian law also restricted the creativity and freedom desired by many Palestinians at the time. By 1953, Ramallah's population had doubled, but the economy and infrastructure were not equipped to handle the influx of poor villagers. Natives of Ramallah left, primarily to the United States. By 1946, 1,500 of Ramallah's 6,000 natives (or about a quarter) had emigrated, and Arabs from the surrounding towns and villages particularly Hebron, bought up the property and homes the émigrés left behind.

Israeli rule

During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel captured Ramallah, 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. For residents of Ramallah, the situation had now reversed itself; 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 attempt to annex all of the West Bank or offer citizenship to the residents. Ramallah residents were issued permits to work in Israel. The city remained under Israeli military rule for over 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. 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 olive groves that Arab villagers claimed to