Who owned the land of Palestine before the Jews settled it?

Answer 1

The area was originally inhabited by the Canaanites, followed by the Hebrews (later called Jews), then the Romans, then the Christians and Muslims moved in, and finally, the Jews began to return starting in the 19th century,.

Answer 2

It depends how this question is read.

If this is referring to first Jewish arrival in the territory (roughly 3000 years ago), it was owned and controlled by numerous independent Canaanite tribes such as the Jebusites, Amorite, Hittites, etc.

If this is referring to the increase of Immigration in the 1920s precipitating the creation of the Modern State of Israel, the land of Palestine was owned primarily by Turkish landlords, controlled by the United Kingdom, and farmed primarily by indigenous Arab peasants.

Answer 3

The last power that claimed possession of the land in modern times was the

Ottoman Turkish empire. As that empire slowly imploded, the British took control,

and kept administrative responsibility until the 1940s, but never intended to stay

forever. During the British period, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour in 1917,

the League of Nations, and the United Nations in 1947, all floated recommendations

to divide the area for administration and development among the local Arab and

Jewish populations, and that's how it was allocated when the British packed up

and went home in 1948. The Jews made a country, and set about absorbing

their people from around the world, while the Arab countries set about trying to

drive the Jews into the sea and be rid of them, all the while restricting the rights

of their Palestinian brothers, keeping them in refugee camps and generally treating

them as alien life forms, instead of absorbing them.

Answer 4

The Palestinians.