Jews have had a continuous presence in the land of Israel for nearly 3000 years. Countless Jewish ancient artifacts have been found in present-day Israel.
For example, the Dead Sea scrolls, found in the caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. Most of these manuscripts, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE, contain copies of the Hebrew Bible. The text in the scrolls strongly resembles present-day Hebrew script.
The names of a majority of Arab towns in Israel and in Palestinian territories are a translation of an original Hebrew name.
For example, Jaffa coming from the Hebrew name Yafet, one of the sons of Noah from the bible. Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, is a direct translation of the name “Ir ha-kodesh” (meaning the “holy city”) which was the ancient Hebrew nickname for Jerusalem. Bethlehem means “house of bread” in the language Hebrew.
The word “Jew” itself comes from a place – the Kingdom of Judah which dates back to 930 BCE - 587 BCE, centered in the highlands of Judea, which is often referred to as the “West Bank” in current day. The kingdom’s capital was Jerusalem.
