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The Jewish diaspora began in the 8th century BC with the deportation of inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians to Mesopotamia - these inhabitants are known as the lost ten tribes of Israel, and although some came back and re-settled in the northern area, many remained away.
In 597 and again in 586 BC, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Southern Kingdom (Judah) destroying Jerusalem and the first Temple, and deporting the elite and the skilled crafts persons to Babylon (Boney M etc!!).
When the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon c 539m BC, he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem where the Second Temple was built. However, many of the Jews were happy to stay in Babylon, having become comfortable with life there, and they chose not to return.
From then over the next 500 years, Jews settled in other countries including Egypt, Crete, and even Rome, as the Roman empire superseded the Greek.
Jerusalem and the Second Temple remained the centre of the Jewish faith, and Jews living far away would see it as their duty to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and sacrifice at the Temple - Simon the Cyrene, who was an onlooker and was forced to help Jesus to carry the cross, was clearly visiting Jerusalem on such a pilgrimage, from his home in Cyrene, Libya.
The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek in the 3rd to 1st centuries BC (the Septuagint) , was done in Alexandria Egypt, for the Greek speaking Jewish community.
With the Roman occupation (c 63 BC) a further wave of emigration occurred, and in 70 AD, those who had stayed revolted only to be crushed, and the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.
Prof Avrum Ehrlich has written that already well before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, there were more Jews in the Diaspora than in Israel.
Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1 p. 126: "In fact, well before the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), more Jews lived in the Diaspora than in the Land of Israel."
Jonathan Adelman estimated that around 60% of Jews lived in the diaspora during the Second Temple period. According to Prof Erich Gruen:
There was a further revolt in Judea against the Romans in 135 AD which was also defeated.
After these defeats, and the loss of the traditional centre of their worship, the Jewish diaspora intensified, with large numbers settling in Spain and Portugal (Sephardic) and in Northern and eastern Europe (Ashkenazi). Some scholars have said that the Jews were essentially a diaspora people after 135 AD although those who did remain in Palestine had a less than benign view of their co-religionists who had chosen to leave. There was even a fear that academics in the diaspora areas would return to Palestine and take over the roles of rabbis and teachers.
By the 3rd century AD, large numbers of Jews were actually emigrating back to the former exilic city of Babylon, where the tolerant Sassanid empire reigned.
The Byzantine Empire succeeded the Roman, and Palestine became Palestina Prima. Although probably in the majority in Palestine, Jews were excluded from Jerusalem.
In 614 AD, the Jews aided the Persians in taking Jerusalem, and Jews began to live there again until the Persians reneged three years later. Jews now assisted the Byzantines in retaking Jerusalem, but again they were betrayed, afterwards, and many were massacred by the Byzantines.
The Moslem conquest of the region, including Jerusalem, was aimed at ousting the Byzantines. With the Moslem conquest, the remaining Jews actually were tolerated and flourished for a time under Islamic rule, and were allowed to freely enter and worship in Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 500 years. By the 8th century, there was a Moslem majority in Palestine. Taxation and other restrictions came in against non-Moslems, and gradually more Jews emigrated until by the 11th century the Jewish population had significantly declined.
The Crusades followed by the Turkish Mamluk conquest saw further massacres of Jews and wholesale emigration until by 1517 it was estimated that just 5,000 Jews or some 1,000 families lived in Palestine. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ottoman-rule-1517-1917
The Jews were expelled from England in the 13th century, although they were invited back by Cromwell and that community has lived fairly peacefully in England since then.
The Jews were also expelled from Spain in 1492.
By 1764 the worldwide Jewish population was estimated at 1.2 million, the vast majority living away from Palestine - some 750,000 in the Poland/ Lithuania Commonwealth.
The Zionist movement began in the 19th century on the basis of rejecting the diaspora of Jews and seeking a return of all Jews to Palestine, which it regarded as their natural homeland. All exiles from the 8th century BC had been negative experiences for the Jews.
Now to population. Courtesy of Wikipedia, the following data are attributed to "Sergio Della Pergola (Hebrew: סרג'ו דלה-פרגולה; born September 7, 1942, in Trieste, Italy) is an Italian-Israeli demographer and statistician. He is a professor and demographic expert, specifically in demography and statistics related to the Jewish population".
(In Thousands) Jews Christians Moslems Total
| 1533–1539 | 5 | 6 | 145 | 156 |
| 1553–1554 | 7 | 9 | 188 | 205 |
| 1690–1691 | 2 | 11 | 219 | 232 |
| 1800 | 7 | 22 | 246 | 275 |
| 1890 | 43 | 57 | 432 | 532 |
| 1914 | 94 | 70 | 525 | 689 |
| 1922 | 84 | 71 | 589 | 752 |
| 1931 | 175 | 89 | 760 | 1,033 |
| 1947 | 630 | 143 | 1,181 | 1,970 |
There has thus been a Moslem majority in Palestine from the 8th century right up to 1947.
Following the horrors of the Holocaust, the western powers, especially the UK decided (encouraged by the Irgun!!) that Jews should be allowed to settle in Palestine and to create a new state of Israel.
By 1948 the Jewish population had risen to over 800,000, 1951 almost 1.6 million, 1963, 2.43 million and today the population of Israel is almost 9.8 million with 73% of these Jewish and some 21% Arabs.
The population of the Palestinian controlled (for how much longer!!!!) territories is 5.37 million https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/state-of-palestine-demographics/.
So, having seen the vast bulk of Jews emigrating in the diaspora for centuries, since 1948, there has been an exponential re-settlement of Jews in the ancient territory of Palestine from just 630,000 in 1947. Roughly, taking Israel and the Palestinian Territories together, there are some 8 million of Jewish ethnicity and some 7.5 million of Arab/ Palestinian.
A way must be found for these peoples to live in peace.
The forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands post 1948, which they had occupied for some 12 centuries, is a major cause of anger and hurt.
The terror imposed on the Jews in WW 2 justified the world trying to find a safe haven for them. However, the right to a safe Jewish homeland, cannot mean forced expulsion, and the current massacre of Palestinians is completely illegal under international law.
The way forward must be ceasefire, negotiations, an end to Hamas seeking to obliterate Israel - never going to succeed - but also the clear acceptance by Israel of the human rights of the Palestinians, and their rights to live peacefully in an economically sustainable land(s).
The violence must cease immediately - far too many innocents have suffered, died, and been made homeless.
The opinion recent poll that showed some 76% of Israeils still favouring either Netanyahu or Gantz to lead them does not offer much hope of an early change of heart or minds.
I think the Palestinians are showing some 57% support for Hamas, which is also a concern, but the actions of the IDF and Netanyahu's Government will only serve to increase support.
Peace must be the clear aim for all - God help them!
