In 1991, Israeli authorities attempted to evict the Arab residents of the Galilean village of Ramia, telling a district court that the land was needed in order to build homes for Jewish immigrants. The Jewish city of Carmiel, founded in 1964, is now taking over the village's land. Public pressure delayed the eviction, but today Carmiel has all but swallowed up the village. Huge apartment houses have sprung up, while the people of Ramia, prohibited from building, have had to remain in crowded tin shacks as if time had stopped for them. With both legal and financial prowess, Carmiel has been put to the test by the popular struggles of Ramia.