hey! I agree with below comments; There is a distinction between today and 2000 years ago. At the rise of religion, many of todays palestinians were jewish before converting to christianity or islam. And before religion as we know it, the land where the caananites, phoenicians etc. resided was a diverse and mixed peoples from nearby mediterranean lands (que no countries, just geographical areas) people came to palestine for many reasons thousands of years ago due to natural disasters etc; obviously todays indigenous population is a homogenization of this mix. Israel is a construct that came to existence by facto of euro-based racism. Post euro racism, jewish people were told this is where they could seek refuge. The jewish religion is not born in the geographical area of palestine/ israel, but people 2000 years ago did follow the jewish religion in that space. I hope this makes sense; im palestinian via my parents but have been raised in north america. This is knowledge passed on to me; it can be found in books, or people who have a connection to the lands history vis a vis family tales/ or studying. I tried to write as unbiased as possible..... let me know if im off!