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Until around 1250 BCE, the West Semitic people known as Canaanites were the inhabitants of Palestine. Around this time came an invasion of sea people from the west. Philistines occupied the southern coastal plains and foothills from the Egyptian border to approximately wher Tel Aviv is today. Other Sea People seem to have invaded farther north and captured Canaanite cities, installing their own ruling classes. The mountainous hinterland was sparsely populated, but there was soon an influx of settlers believed to have been the ancestors of the Israelites. Most scholars believe the Israelites to be Canaanite dissidents who left the coastal cities for the freedom of their own lands and rulers.

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14y ago

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