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Jewish connection to Israel
Jews have lived in the land of Israel consecutively for the past ~4,000 years, despite persecutions, displacements and are the most ancient ethno-religious group still living on the land. Israel is documented in the Bible as the Promised Land that was given to the Jews by God. The Jews founded the Kingdom of Israel, with its capital Jerusalem, where they built their Temple. The Kingdom stretched over significant parts of the Middle East, including present day Israel.
Israel is one of the only countries in the world with the same people, speaking the same language and having the same religion for thousands of years.
Christian connection to the Holy Land
Jesus was born to a Jewish family over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, a town located in Judea / Israel, not far from Jerusalem and lived most of his life in Nazareth in Northern Galilee. Jesus practiced Judaism during all of his lifetime, yet preached several additional important ideas. His ideas turned into Christianity, which spread in the Middle East and later on to Europe and beyond. There are various sites in the Holy Land which are holy to Christianity, mainly in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. The Holy Land is a later name for the land of Israel.
The Middle East was predominantly Christian until the emergence of Islam ~1,400 years ago, which by conquest and conversion became the dominant religion.
Muslim / Palestinian connection to Palestine
The Palestinians are Muslim Arabs and are a part of the Arab/Muslim world, constituting ~2 billion Muslims across over 50 countries. Arabs originated from present day Saudi Arabia and arrived to the land of Israel for the first time ~1,400 years ago, upon the emergence of Islam and its conquest of major parts of Asia and Africa, which included the land of Israel (later also called Palestine). Arabs maintained consecutive presence on the land for the past 800 years, since they drove out the Christian Crusaders. Most of them immigrated to the land as of the late 19th century from all over the Muslim world, following its economic development by the Zionists and the British. The Muslims built the 3rd-holiest site to Islam, the Al-Aqsa mosque on the ruins of the Jewish Temple on Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The source of the name Palestine
Palestine was the name the British adopted in 1917 for their mandate, which included present day Israel and Jordan, and later on only present day Israel. The name originates from the name "Syria-Palestina" that the Romans invented for the region when they exiled most of the Jews from Judea/Israel ~2,000 years ago, in an attempt to disassociate the Jews from the land.
The Creation of Israel and the Partial Population Exchange
Similarly to other conflicts in the world, such as the creation of India and Pakistan, and the settlement of borders between Turkey and Greece, the creation of Israel also involved population exchange between Israel and the Arab world.
The U.N. resolved in 1947 to partition mandatory Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Jewish accepted the plan, Muslim Arabs rejected and were strongly against giving any part to the Jews.
Israel declared its independence in 1948. The day thereafter, the Palestinian Arabs, together with 6 Muslim Arab countries with trained armies invaded the tiny new country, which had to fight for its life.
The war and the following years ended with a partial population exchange:
(1) Israel called its Arab inhabitants to participate in the development of the new state, while being full-right and equal Israeli citizens. These Arabs constitute currently ~20% of Israeli population and enjoy full rights;
(2) Nonetheless, due to the war situation, and following their leaders instructions to leave the land until the war is over, ~550,000 Palestinian Arabs fled their homes and ended as refugees in neighboring Arab countries, most of which did not give them citizenship, thereby perpetuating the enduring Palestinian refugee problem
(3) No Jews remained in the areas conquered by the Arabs (West Bank / Judea & Samaria, Gaza Strip), including Temple Mount – the holiest site for Jews;
(4) During the war and the following years ~1,000,000 Jews - virtually all Jews from the Arab/Muslim countries were expelled or forced to flee. Those Jews and their descendants now constitute the majority of Israeli Jewish population.
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