Ramla

Located 19 km south east of Tel Aviv and 4 km south of Lod, the city of Ramla was actually founded by the Caliph Suleiman ibn Abed al-Malik (the second son of Abd el-Malik, builder of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem) in 716 AD. The name Ramla is derived from the Arabic word Raml which means sand. Later the city was conquered by crusaders, Mameluks, Turks and British. Napolean occupied Ramla on March 2, 1799. The city has also suffered series of earth quakes in 715, 1033, 1068, 1546 and 1927. Crusaders identified it with biblical Ramathaim and called Arimathea. Israel captured Ramla on July 12, 1948. Today, Ramla has a population around 64,200; 80% of which are Jewish and rest 20% are Arabs. Ramla is also the largest centre for the Jewish community called Karaites. The hometown of Joseph of Aramathea who with Nicodemus arranged Jesus' burial, has some popular christian destinations also. I visited the St Joseph's Church and the Hospice of St Nicodemus, the Tower of the Forty Martyrs, the White Mosque and the Great Mosque.

Tower of the Forty Martyrs and the White Mosque
To Muslims it is known as the Tower of the Forty Companions of the Prophet. Its construction was begun by Sultan Bibars in 1267 and completed by Sultan Nazir Mohammed Ibn Kalaun in 1318. Some believe that the structure was actually the bell tower of a church dedicated to the 40 martyrs of Sebastia and later converted to a minaret by muslims. The 40 martyrs were Roman soldiers who were frozen to death for their Christian faith in AD 320 by the Roman Ceaser Licinius in Sebaste, a place in Armenia. They are allegedly burried near this tower! Napoleon has climbed the tower in 1799, and in 1917 British General Allenby used it as an observation post.

The 6 storied tower is 89 ft tall and its 119 steps take you to the top from where you can see 360 degree view of modern Ramla. Near the tower, ruins from a mosque built by Caliph Suleiman in 716 are visible. This mosque is known as the White Mosque (al-Masjid al-Abyad) and the tower used to serve as its minaret. I climbed the steps to top of the tower and captured some nice aerial snaps of Ramla. Inside the tower there were bird nests and eggs scattered randomly.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramleh