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While what we know as the country of Israel did not exist until 1948, the Israelites (also called the Hebrews, and later the Jews) inhabited the region since Bible times, more than five thousand years ago. The Israelites were a nomadic group of people, as were the Babylonians, Canaanites and others in that time, and they explored what is now known as the Middle East. During the 1800s and early 1900s, a growing number of Jews, many from Europe, but some from Arab countries, settled in that region, in the area that would later become known as Israel but was then called "Palestine." Their reasons were usually to escape persecution, although some also believed they were returning to the home of their ancestors.

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14y ago

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