Palestine denotes the British Mandatory area exclusive of Trans-jordania.
Early Days.—From the earliest period of history Palestine has been inhabited by peoples of Semitic race, who moved from Arabia to Syria and Palestine in a long series of immigrations. The Canaanitish immigration is the oldest of which we know with certainty, its earliest wave including the Phœnicians, who penetrated farthest to the west. Following the example of the Old Testament, we are accustomed to call the tribes who settled to the west of the Jordan by the collective name of Canaanites, though they are probably more correctly specified by the older biblical writers as Amorites. At a later date seven tribes are specified: Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Girgazites, Perizzites and Jebusites. The Hittites, as also the Philistines, were non-Semitic. The Tel al-ʾAmarna tablets (fifteenth century B.C.) refer to the 'Khabiri,' who included the Israelites, Moabites, Amorites and Edomites, and are identified by a once criticized but now increasingly accepted theory with the Hebrews. The Canaanites were followed by the Aramaeans, who were already settled in Trans-jordania under the Kings of Israel. In these early days Palestine was largely dependent upon Egypt, being governed by princes tributary to the Pharaohs. Despite, however, the political supremacy of Egypt the Tel al-ʾAmarna tablets, which are written in Babylonian cuneiform, indicate how largely the country lay under the influence of Babylonian culture. Among these tributary princes is mentioned a King of Urusalim (Jerusalem).
Early Jewish History.—The leader of the Israelites, to whom they owed the basis of their religious development, was Moses. Their settlement in the country west of the Jordan was effected very slowly, partly by force of arms, partly by peaceful assimilation with the Canaanites, who at that time occupied a much higher plane of culture than the Israelites. In the Old Testament the Israelites are represented as divided into twelve tribes, several of which, however, became merged in others in prehistoric
