This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.Khirbet el-'Ormeh (Arabic: خربة العرمة, romanized: Khirbet el-Urmah) or Horvat Ormah (Hebrew: חורבת עורמה) is an archaeological site located in the West Bank, around ten kilometers southeast of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

[1] The site contains the remains of a Hasmonean-Herodian fortress consisting of a fortification wall, rectangular towers constructed in the Hellenistic style, and a series of large cisterns for storing rainwater.

According to an investigation in 2021 by Israeli website Ynet, part of the site has been damaged or dismantled by the Palestinian Authority.

The reference is in the context of story describing a local revolt against Abimelech, the king of Shechem and the son of judge Gideon.

[citation needed] In 1851-2 C.W.M Van De Velde passed by and noted "I believe I may recognise the Arumah of Judges ix 41".

The position was very grand, standing high above the surrounding hills; from a distance the castle seems almost inaccessible ; by approaching it from the west, however, a narrow tongue of land leads to within a little of the top.

The foundations of two square towers of large drafted masonry, similar to Crusading work, still guard the southern entrance ; these and some cisterns and ruined houses are all that now remain ; the whole area of the plateau would be about three-quarters of an acre.

[11] Hellenistic-style store-jars and a cooking pot were found on the building on the eastern side, along with ceramics dating from Iron Age (I-II), and a fragment of Roman terra sigillata pottery in the vicinity.

[11] In October 1984, nine Demetrius II coins dating from 146 to 138 BCE were found on the western and northern slopes of Khirbet el-'Ormeh.

[21] Scholars estimate that the fortress was built as part of the war campaign of John Hyrcanus or Alexander Jannaeus against the Samaritans, or to protect Jewish pilgrims heading for Jerusalem.

An Ottoman endowment deed of Hasseki Sultan's imaret in Jerusalem (1552) records the place name Manzalat al-ʽrmwy’t /Manzilit il-ʽUrmawiyāt/, “the camping ground of the ‘Urmawis (residents of 'Urma)", near Beit Liqya.

[6] According to the Palestinian government, "Israeli settlers falsely claim that Mount 'Orma holds biblical importance as a pretext to take over the strategic hilltop.

"[27] According to an investigation in 2021 by Israeli website Ynet, part of the site has been damaged or dismantled by the Palestinian Authority.