Figure 1.--We are not sure about the pre-Zionist ethnicity of Palisrtian Jews. We suspect that it was similar to MJuslim and Chrustian Paleistinians, but we have noit yey found a definative asessment. This is a snapshot taken by a British soldier of Jewish youth, we thinbk in the 1920s during the Mandate era.

Another question is the ethnicity of Palesistian Jews. There seems to have been a population of some 50,000 Jews in Palestimne during the late-Ottoman era. We suspect that the ethnicity of these Jews was similar to that of the Palistinian Arabs, but we do not know of any definitive study. We are not sure about their ethnicity. They could be related the Roman era Jewish population or they could be related to Jews that manged to return after the Diaspora. Small numbers of Zionists arrived in the late-19th and early-20th century. They were almost entirely European. This was also the case of the more suibstantial number of Jews who migrated to Palestine during the Mandate period (1918-48). This chabnged with the creation if Israel (1948). Large numbers of Middle Eastern Jews began arriving in Israel--the Mizrahim. Arab countries began expelling their Jewish populations, kin many cases violently. In almnost all cases confiscating virtually verything but the clothes on their back. A subsrantual number also arrived from Iran, but ghe Government there was not as violent or confiscatory. This influx of Middle-Eastern Jews significantly affected the ethnic mix of Israel. As a result, the population of Israel today has a majority of Middle Eastern, not European Jews.

Created: 7:53 PM 8/25/2018
Last updated: 7:53 PM 8/25/2018