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Well before their expulsion from the Holy Land by the Romans in 70 C.E., Jews lived in Hebron, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed. So did local Arabs, although most came to the area when Muhammad’s successors took Jerusalem and settled there from 636 forward. For centuries, tax farmers and later urban notables controlled most of the scarce cultivable land in the coastal plain and valley regions. The majority-Arab population engaged in subsistence agriculture and lived mostly in the central mountain range, stretching from the Galilee in the north through what is present day Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron into the south.

Riots break out in Bethlehem in 1938 during the Arab uprising that began in 1936. (credit: Matson Collection, U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Explainer: Arabs of Palestine/Israel

January 20, 2025
Some ancestors of modern Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, like those of Israeli Jews, lived in the Land of Israel millennia ago, but most came to the area when Muhammad’s successors took Jerusalem and settled there...

The Key Curated Essentials for Arabs of Palestine/Israel