er claim a history in the region dating back 10 000 years ago to the building of Jericho by the Arabs . If the Israeli claims to contemporary Palestinian territory are according to ancient or historical pretexts of ownership then so to could be the claims of every grouping that has ever invaded, conquered or ruled this disputed region . The history of Jerusalem has been checkered by the rule of Roman, Persians, Mongols and Muslims . Jerusalem (meaning the city of peace) was built by the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe around 4000BC . The zenith of the Jewish people was during the reigns of David and Soloman, however at the death of Soloman in 922BC the country was divided: the north remained Israel and the south became Judea . The subsequent fall of Israel to the Assyrians in 772BC and then the Babylonian conquest of Judea (and the destruction of Jerusalem) in 586BC, the 'Babylonian captivity' led to the diaspora of Jews that became determined to hold on their Israeli identity in exile. It is from within this ancient history that the Israelites travels toward their modern claims to the Palestine territory . Perhaps this is because the Jewish consider their "journey is an epic one, from dim and unpromising beginnings to empire to the loss of home and dispersion throughout the world, from Hebrew to Israelite to Jew, carrying with them always the promise that the one God would protect and preserve them above all others" .
             This journey of modern Israeli migration to the Palestine region (under Muslim Ottoman control ) was a trickle before 1897 . By 1903 some 25 000 immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe lived alongside about half a million Arab residents in what was then the Turkish Ottoman empire. The next significant wave of immigrants arrived between 1904 and 1914 . With Arab help, the British took Palestine from the Turkish Ottomans at the end of World War I in 1917-18 . The Arabs willingly helped the Briti...