Did Israel exist on land that was completely empty before its founding in 1948?

The area that is now the State of Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Kingdom of Jordan has been inhabited for thousands of years by a variety of populations, including Jews, Arabs, Christians, and others. Jews have lived in the land now known as Israel for over 3,000 years, with a continuous presence dating back to ancient times.

Despite periods of exile, particularly after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE, Jewish communities have persisted in the area throughout history. The modern Zionist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to increased Jewish immigration, culminating in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

For centuries from the Ottoman conquest in the 1500s until their defeat in World War I, the area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which allowed Jews to live in relative peace in the area as second-class citizens known as dhimmi (a term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state), with restricted rights and individual freedoms. From 1917 to 1948, the region was part of the British Mandate of Palestine, which had a mixed population of Jews, Arabs, and other groups. The land was sparsely populated in certain areas, but had established communities in others.