Romema (Hebrew: רוממה) (lit. Uplifted) is a neighbourhood in northwest Jerusalem, Israel, just off the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway at the main entrance to the city. Romema is bordered by Kiryat Mattersdorf and Mekor Baruch.[1]
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Founded as a Jewish neighborhood outside of the historical city of Lifta, Romema was founded in 1921 and planned to be 24 houses centered on a central square during the British Mandate.The initiator of the Romema project was attorney Yom-Tov Hamon, an expert in Ottoman law and land ownership issues, who was often asked to arbitrate disputes between Arab landowners in the region. When there was a disagreement about ownership of the land on this hill, Hamon decreed that the plot should be sold, thus making it available for a Jewish neighborhood.[2] The Jewish section of the neighborhood, unlike many other Jerusalem neighborhoods, it was built with private funding. Most of the original streets were named for Hebrew newspapers in print at the time: HaZvi, edited by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Ariel, HaOr, Torah Mitzion and Moriah.[2] The name Romema is derived from Psalms (118:16): "The Lord's right hand is lifted high (romem)..."[2] By 1948, the population was diverse, comprising both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, as well as Arabs .[3]
A great deal of architecture remains from this period showing its relative affluence, wealth, and diversity of the neighborhood. Most notably is the three-story residence of a wealthy Arab Haj Muhammad, who owned quarries in nearby Lifta and served as a judge in the city's Muslim courts, the elegant home of Jewish hotelier and businessman Yehiel Amdurski, and the home of Moldova-born Rabbi Yehuda Fishman-Maim.[4]
In 1948, during the founding of Israel, the Christian Palestinians and Muslim Arabs living in the Arab section of Romana as well as the nearby village of Lifta were forced out of their homes due to violence from Jewish terrorist groups such as Irgun as well as clashes with Arab militia men. Due to their the Laws for Absentees,[5] no Arab residents were allowed to return by the Israeli government, a point of contention for Palestinians who held property there. Revisionist Israeli historian Benny Morris describes the event as follows:
The first mass evacuations of Jerusalem neighborhoods took place in December 1947 - January 1948 from the suburb-villages of Lifta and Sheikh Badr, and the Arab area of Romema. Initially, Haganah patrols were ordered to patrol the outskirts of Lifta, not to enter the village, and to 'put up posters'...But the patrols occasionally sparked firefights with the village's militiamen, and Irgun and LHI Stern Gang operations, from the start, were more aggressive. (It seems reasonable to assume that operations 'more aggressive' than armed patrols, carried out by one sporadically terrorist and one consistently terrorist group, involved killing Palestinians). Already in mid-December, irregulars from nearby villages had taken up positions in Lifta, to defend the site but also to harass neighbouring Jewish areas. The older activists wanted peace but the youngsters, according to an HIS [Haganah Intelligence Service] informant, 'were all activist'. By the beginning of January, Lifta was suffering from a shortage of bread and already on 28 December women and children were reported evacuating the village.By 1 January, most of the villagers had apparently left (for Ramallah), but armed irregulars or Arab Legionnaires were still in place. On or around 15 January, the villagers were ordered to return home and apparently some, or most, did. A week later, the village was visited by 'Abd al Qadir Husseini, who ordered the menfolk to stay put and 'the children, women and old' to leave. Women and children were seen leaving. The Stern Gang raided the village and blew up three houses on 29 January. By early February, all or almost all of Liftah's inhabitants were back in Ramallah (where they complained that the locals were 'mocking them' and that, in Lifta, they had been trapped between the irregulars, who used their homes to attack Jews, and the Jews, who destroyed their homes and killed them in retaliation).
The cycle of violence that precipitated Romema's evacuation began with attacks on Jewish traffic leaving Jerusalem and the Haganah killing on 24 December of Atiya 'Adel, the owner, from Qaluniya village, of the petrol station at Romema who, using a motorcycle, [was believed to double] as a scout and informant for the Arab irregulars about Jewish convoys. The following day, villagers avenged the attack by throwing a grenade at a Jewish bus holding civilians. From then on, there were daily exchanges of fire in and around Romema (and Lifta) and the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang repeatedly raided the two sites. Romema was struck by two Haganah raids on the night of 26 December and by the Irgun (which destroyed a petrol station and coffee shop, killing at least five Arabs on 27 December. Some inhabitants apparently evacuated under British protection and in orderly fashion. By the beginning of January, HIS reports spoke of the Arab quarters of Romema as empty, though some militiamen had apparently stayed and inhabitants kept returning, at least for brief visits, to inspect their property. Threatening letters and telephone calls by the Haganah and Stern Gang also, apparently, contributed to the neighbourhood's depopulation.[6]
For many decades, Romema became a center of light industry, home to a large number of garages, foundries, carpentry workshops and factories.[7] In 2007, as businesses closed and properties were bought up by developers, a master plan was commissioned for the neighborhood.[1]
A 3-meter high monument commemorating the British soldiers who fell in the battle for Palestine stands at the top of Romema Street, where the Turkish Army surrendered to General Allenby during World War I.[8] It was erected by soldiers of the 60th London Division in 1920. The inscription around the base reads: "Near this spot, the Holy City was surrendered to the 60th London Division, 9th December 1917." Etched into the monument are the silhouettes of Crusader knights, drawing a symbolic link between them and the British soldiers who conquered Jerusalem.[9] The British also built a water tower in Romema, which was the highest point in Jerusalem at the time. Water from an adjacent pool was piped all over the city.[2]
The Jerusalem branch of the Magen David Adom ambulance service is located in Romema.[10] Other landmarks in Romema include the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, the Israel Television building, the Jerusalem Gate Hotel and the Center One shopping mall. From 1950 to 1991, Romema was the home of the Biblical Zoo, after access to the zoo on Mount Scopus was blocked in 1949.[11]
Many of the factory buildings in Romema were designed by Rudolf ("Rudy") Reuven Trostler, a pioneer of industrial architecture in Israel. In 1951, he designed a building for the Rafa pharmaceutical company [12] specializing in the manufacture and marketing of medicines since 1937.[13] Trostler also designed the five-story building housing the Israel Broadcasting Authority, which was erected in the 1960s as a diamond polishing center. The building was in the International Style with a gray breeze-block grille on the facade that became one of Trostler's stylistic trademarks.[14] When the diamond industry in Jerusalem did not take off as anticipated, the building was renovated for television broadcasting.[15]
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