When trying to decide who has a right to the land of Israel, history is often an important factor. A simple look at the timeline of the land can dispel many myths

"It [Israel] is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago..." - Charles Krauthammer

Pre 1250 BCERegion called Canaan made up of various city states
1250 BCEJoshua (start of Jewish Rule)
1000 - 587 BCE Israeli Kingdom
587 - 538 BCE Babylonian
538 - 333 BCEPersian
333 - 63 BCEHellenistic
63 BCE - 313 CE Roman (Renamed Judea to Palestina after the final Jewish Revolt in order sever connection between Jews and their land)
313 - 636Byzantine (East Roman Empire)
636 - 1099 Arab
1099 -1291Crusaders
1291 -1516Mamluk
1516 -1918Ottoman
1917 -1948British
1948 - ForeverReestablished Jewish Rule

(Timeline taken from http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.asp)

A few notes:

  • Only under the Jews was Israel an independent united country. All other rules were foreign occupiers.
  • Only the Jews established Jerusalem as their capital (even under Muslim rule Jerusalem was relegated to backwater town status with little importance unless it was threatened by other religions).
  • From The time of Joshua, Jews have had a continuous presence in Israel
  • At no time was there an independent Palestinian entity or any type of independent Muslim entity in the land of Israel
  • Note that the renaming of the region to Palestina by the Romans has had long lasting ramifications. Most people in the world simply call this region "Palestine" (even when discussing pre-Roman periods) as though it is a neutral term when in fact it is an extremely political statement.

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