Who Owned the Land Fir t? I rael v Pale tine Hi torical Claim

Few questions generate as much heat as who owned the land first between Israel and Palestine, but the answer is rarely as simple as either side claims. This article sifts through archaeological findings, historical documents, and modern political decisions to separate fact from contested narrative.

First documented Israelite kingdom: c. 1000 BCE (Kingdom of Israel) ·
First recorded use of ‘Palestine’: 5th century BCE (Herodotus) ·
Modern State of Israel established: 14 May 1948 ·
Palestinian Declaration of Independence: 15 November 1988

Comparing the historical claims of both sides reveals key differences.

Six key milestones illustrate how the land changed hands—from Canaanite city-states to modern political entities.

Did Israel come first or Palestine?

What does the archaeological record say about early inhabitants?

• The southern Levant shows human occupation from prehistoric times, well before any Israelite or Palestinian identity emerged (Encyclopaedia Britannica, a historical reference).
• Bronze Age Canaanites built city-states in the region from c. 3500 BCE onward.

Were the Philistines the original Palestinians?

• The Philistines were an Aegean people who settled along the coast c. 1200 BCE. Their name likely gave rise to the term “Palestine” (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• Whether modern Palestinians are directly descended from Philistines is debated among historians.

How does the biblical account align with history?

• The Hebrew Bible describes the kingdoms of Israel and Judah from c. 1000 BCE, which partially aligns with archaeological evidence of an Iron Age polity centered in Jerusalem (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• Biblical narratives, while not literal history, reflect the emergence of a distinct Israelite culture.

The pattern: The question “first” is anachronistic; the land was continuously inhabited by overlapping groups whose identities and political structures shifted over millennia. No single group has an unchallenged claim to being the original inhabitants.

When were the Jews originally kicked out of Israel?

The Assyrian exile of the Northern Kingdom (722 BCE)

• The Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel and deported many of its inhabitants, scattering the ten northern tribes.

The Babylonian exile of the Southern Kingdom (586 BCE)

• The Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple and exiled the elite of Judah to Babylon (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• This exile ended when the Persian Empire allowed return c. 539 BCE.

The Roman exile after the Jewish-Roman wars (70 CE, 135 CE)

• The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE and, after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE), expelled many Jews from Judea and renamed the province Syria Palaestina (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• This was a massive displacement, but a Jewish presence remained in the region continuously.

The continuous Jewish presence despite exiles

• Jewish communities persisted in Galilee, parts of Jerusalem, and elsewhere under Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic rule.
• The modern Zionist movement emerged in the late 19th century as a response to persecution and diaspora, not as a direct continuation of ancient exile (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Why this matters: The exiles shaped Jewish identity, but they also created a continuous claim to the land through the communities that never left.

Who decided to give Palestine to Israel?

The Balfour Declaration (1917)

• British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter expressing support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” with a caveat protecting non-Jewish communities (Encyclopaedia Britannica, a historical reference).

The League of Nations Mandate

• The Mandate for Palestine (1922) incorporated the Balfour Declaration and made Britain responsible for facilitating the Jewish national home (Yale Law School Avalon Project).

The United Nations Partition Plan (1947)

• UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• The plan was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by Arab states.

The role of Britain and the Zionist movement

• Britain, as the Mandate power, controlled policy and immigration, significantly influencing the demographic balance.
• Zionist lobbying and diplomacy were key to obtaining the Balfour Declaration and later UN support.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

— Balfour Declaration, 1917 (Our Documents, a historical archive)

The catch: The Balfour Declaration promised a national home while promising to protect existing communities—two commitments that quickly proved contradictory.

Did Gaza ever belong to Israel?

Gaza under the British Mandate

• Gaza was part of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948.

Gaza after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

• Egypt controlled Gaza from 1948 to 1967, administering the territory but not annexing it.

Israeli occupation from 1967 to 2005

• Israel captured Gaza during the Six-Day War in 1967 and occupied it militarily (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• Israel established settlements and military control until 2005.

Hamas control and current status

• Israel unilaterally withdrew its settlers and troops in 2005; in 2007, Hamas took over internally.
• Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas’s takeover, citing security concerns.

The trade-off: Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 aimed to disengage from Gaza, but the blockade and periodic conflicts have kept the territory under effective Israeli control.

Was Palestine ever a country before?

Definition of a country

• A country (or sovereign state) typically has a defined territory, permanent population, government, and capacity to enter relations with other states.

Historical political entities in the region

• Before World War I, the region was part of the Ottoman Empire, which had provinces but no independent state called Palestine.
• The British Mandate of Palestine (1920–1948) was an administrative unit, not a sovereign state.

The British Mandate of Palestine

• Britain administered the territory under a League of Nations mandate, with the explicit goal of facilitating Jewish immigration.

The Palestinian Declaration of Independence (1988)

• The Palestine Liberation Organization declared a State of Palestine on 15 November 1988 (United Nations UNISPAL).
• As of 2024, 139 UN member states recognize Palestine.

International recognition

• Palestine became a non-member observer state of the UN in 2012.
• Palestine has diplomatic relations with many countries but is not universally recognized as a sovereign state.

“Modern Palestinian national identity is a 19th- and 20th-century political identity, not an ancient ethnic polity identical to the people of the classical Roman province of Syria Palaestina.”

— United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (a research institution)

The pattern: Like Israel, Palestine’s claim to statehood is based on modern political processes, not continuous sovereignty from antiquity.

Timeline: Who owned the land — key events

Thirteen milestones trace the shifting control of the region from ancient kingdoms to modern states.

The timeline shows that no single group held exclusive control for the entire period.

The evidence supports specific claims while leaving others open to interpretation.

Key quotes on the land dispute

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

— Balfour Declaration, 1917 (Our Documents, a historical archive)

“The General Assembly … recommends to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union of Palestine.”

— UN General Assembly Resolution 181, 1947 (Britannica, a historical reference)

“Modern Palestinian national identity is a 19th- and 20th-century political identity, not an ancient ethnic polity identical to the people of the classical Roman province of Syria Palaestina.”

— United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (a research institution)

The archival record shows that both modern nationalisms crystallized in the late 19th and 20th centuries, even as each side draws on deep historical ties. The conflict is less about who came first and more about how competing national projects collided over the same land.

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