Some information about Ramle

Ramla is a city in central Israel. The city is predominantly Jewish with a significant Arab minority. Ramla was founded circa 705–715 AD by the Umayyad Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik after the Arab conquest of the region. Ramla lies along the route of the Via Maris, connecting old Cairo with Damascus, at the intersection of the roads connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem.

It was conquered many times in the course of its history, by the Abbasids, the Ikhshidids, the Fatamids, the Seljuqs, the Crusaders, the Mameluks, the Turks, the British, and the Israelis. After an outbreak of the Black Death in 1347, which decimated the population, an order of Franciscan monks established a presence in the city. Under Arab and Ottoman rule the city become an important trade center. Napoleon's French Army occupied it in 1799 on its way to Acre.

Most of the town's Arab residents were expelled during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War while others remained in the town. The town was subsequently repopulated by Jewish immigrants.

In recent years, attempts have been made to develop and beautify the city, which has been plagued by neglect, financial problems and a negative public image. New shopping malls and public parks have been built, and a municipal museum opened in 2001

Ramla's economic importance, shared with the neighboring city of Lydda, was based on its strategic location. Ramla was at the intersection of two major roads, one linking Egypt with Syria and the other linking Jerusalem with the coast

Ramla was part of the territory allotted to a proposed Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. However, Ramla's geographical location and its strategic position on the main supply route to Jerusalem made it a point of contention during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. A bomb by the Jewish militia/terrorist group Irgun went off in the Ramla market on February 18, killing 7 residents and injuring 45. After a number of unsuccessful raids on Ramla, the Israeli army launched Operation Dani. Ramla was captured on 12–12 July 1948, a few days after the capture of Lydda. The Arab resistance surrendered on July 12, and most of the remaining inhabitants were driven out on the orders of David Ben-Gurion.. After the Israeli capture, some 400 Arabs remained in Ramla.

Ramla is the center of Karaite Judaism in Israel. In 2006, 12,000 Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 5,000 Ethiopian Jews were living in Ramla. Ramla also has about 2,000 Jewish residents descended from the Marathi-speaking Karachi, Pakistan Bene Israel community.