Palestine

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A community to discuss everything Palestine.

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submitted 3 months ago by DropBear@theblower.au to c/palestine@lemmy.ml

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Credit: Professor Halim Rane on Facebook 22 December 2025
I’ve noticed many Australians have very low levels of literacy regarding the history of Palestine and its inhabitants. There is a widespread misconception that the land historically belonged to the Jewish people and that Palestinians have only inhabited the land since the Muslims defeated the Byzantine in the 7th century.
Here are the facts:

Palestine has never “always” belonged to one people. For over 3,000 years the land has been ruled by multiple empires and polities—Canaanite city-states, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, and British. Jewish political rule existed only briefly and intermittently, like that of many other groups, and never continuously. In fact, Muslims have ruled Palestine longer than any other empire or political entity—1280 years (638-1917 CE, excluding Crusader rule: Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman)
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[–] DropBear@theblower.au 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

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2. Ancient Israelites were one population among many, not the exclusive inhabitants. Archaeology and history show that Israelites emerged within the existing Canaanite population, alongside Philistines, Phoenicians, Arameans, and others. They did not replace the population nor establish permanent dominance.
3. “Jewish people” is not a timeless category tied to political sovereignty. The identity “Jew” develops after the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), originally referring to people from Judah and later becoming a religious–communal identity, not a territorial one. Most Jews lived outside Palestine for nearly two millennia. After the Babylonian exile, the only clear case of Jewish sovereign rule in Palestine was the Hasmonean Kingdom (c. 140–37 BCE), established after the Maccabean revolt. This rule was short-lived (about a century), geographically limited, and ended when Rome intervened.

[–] DropBear@theblower.au 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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4. The Arab-Muslim conquests did not replace the population. It replaced the Byzantine rulers. When Muslim rule began in the 7th century, the population of Palestine was already indigenous, largely Aramaic- and Greek-speaking Christians and Jews. Over centuries, many locals adopted Arabic language and Islam. This was cultural and religious transformation, not displacement of the population.
5. Palestinians are not recent arrivals. They descend from the region’s continuous local population, including ancient inhabitants who later became Christian and Muslim. Genetic, linguistic, and historical evidence shows continuity of Palestine being inhabited, not replaced, by Palestinians.

[–] DropBear@theblower.au 1 points 3 months ago

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In summary, when anachronisms are removed, Palestine was governed under Muslim rule for over a millennium, compared with only a few centuries of limited and intermittent Jewish political sovereignty. Today’s Palestinians are the continuation of its indigenous population, largely descended from the land’s long-standing inhabitants, whose identities evolved over time through cultural, linguistic, and religious change, not population replacement.