Jews were the dominant religious group in the Israel-Palestine region at the beginning of the first millennia CE, and are the dominant religious group there today, however, there was a period of almost 2,000 years where most of the world's Jews were displaced from their spiritual homeland.
Antiquity to the 20th century
Jewish hegemony in the region began changing after a series of revolts against Roman rule led to mass expulsions and emigration. Roman control saw severe persecution of Jewish and Christian populations, but this changed when the Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion in the 4th century. Christianity then dominated until the 7th century, when the Rashidun Caliphate (the first to succeed Muhammad) took control of the Levant. Control of region split between Christians and Muslims intermittently between the 11th and 13th centuries during the Crusades, although the population remained overwhelmingly Muslim.
Zionism until today
Through the Paris Peace Conference, the British took control of Palestine in 1920. The Jewish population began growing through the Zionist Movement after the 1880s, which sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Rising anti-Semitism in Europe accelerated this in the interwar period, and in the aftermath of the Holocaust, many European Jews chose to leave the continent. The United Nations tried facilitating the foundation of separate Jewish and Arab states, yet neither side was willing to concede territory, leading to a civil war and a joint invasion from seven Arab states. Yet the Jews maintained control of their territory and took large parts of the proposed Arab territory, forming the Jewish-majority state of Israel in 1948, and acheiving a ceasefire the following year. Over 750,000 Palestinians were displaced as a result of this conflict, while most Jews from the Arab eventually fled to Israel. Since this time, Israel has become one of the richest and advanced countries in the world, however, Palestine has been under Israeli military occupation since the 1960s and there are large disparities in living standards between the two regions.
Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE
(in 1,000s)
*For display purposes the time periods and estimates for early entries have been changed. The original time periods and figures (in thousands) as given in the source are as follows:
0-50: First half 1st century CE - ~2,500
400-499: 5th century: >1st century
1199: End 12th century: >225
1345: 14th century pre-Black Death: 225
1355: 14th century post-Black Death: 150
The source also indicated the dominant religion in the years where only total population figures were available. These were:
First half 1st century CE - Jews
5th century: Christians
End 12th century to 1947 - Muslims
1960-2000 - Jews
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ResearchGate. (August 31, 2001). Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE (in 1,000s) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/
ResearchGate. "Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE (in 1,000s)." Chart. August 31, 2001. Statista. Accessed December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/
ResearchGate. (2001). Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE (in 1,000s). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/
ResearchGate. "Population of The Region of Israel-palestine (West of River Jordan) by Religious Affiliation in Select Years between 0 and 2000 Ce (in 1,000s)." Statista, Statista Inc., 31 Aug 2001, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/
ResearchGate, Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE (in 1,000s) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/ (last visited December 21, 2024)
Population of the region of Israel-Palestine (west of River Jordan) by religious affiliation in select years between 0 and 2000 CE (in 1,000s) [Graph], ResearchGate, August 31, 2001. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067093/israel-palestine-population-religion-historical/