<P> Modern Israel is roughly located on the site of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah . The area (also known as Land of Israel and as Palestine) is the birthplace of the Hebrew language, the place that the Hebrew Bible was composed and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity . It contains sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Samaritanism, Druze and the Bahá'í Faith . </P> <P> The Land of Israel has come under the sway of various empires and has been home to a variety of ethnicities, but was predominantly Jewish from roughly 1,000 years before the Common Era (BCE) until the 3rd century of the Common Era (CE). The adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire in the 4th century led to a Greco - Roman Christian majority which lasted until the 7th century when the area was conquered by the Arab Muslim Empires . It gradually became predominantly Moslem until the Crusades between 1096 and 1291, when it was the focal point of conflict between Christianity and Islam . From the 13th century it was mainly Moslem with Arabic as the dominant language and was first part of the Syrian province of the Mamluk Sultanate and then part of the Ottoman Empire until the British conquest in 1917 . </P> <P> A Jewish national movement, Zionism, emerged in the late - 19th century (partially in response to growing anti-Semitism) and Aliyah (Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel) increased . After World War I, Ottoman territories in the Levant came under British and French control and the League of Nations granted the British a Mandate to rule Palestine which was to be turned into a Jewish National Home . A rival Arab nationalism also claimed rights over the former Ottoman territories and sought to prevent Jewish migration into Palestine, leading to growing Arab--Jewish tensions . Israeli independence in 1948 was marked by massive migration of Jews from Europe, a Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries to Israel, and of Arabs from Israel, followed by the Arab--Israeli conflict . About 43% of the world's Jews live in Israel today, the largest Jewish community in the world . </P> <P> Since about 1970, the United States has become the principal ally of Israel . In 1979, an uneasy Egypt--Israel Peace Treaty was signed, based on the Camp David Accords . In 1993, Israel signed Oslo I Accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization, followed by establishment of the Palestinian National Authority and in 1994 Israel--Jordan peace treaty was signed . Despite efforts to finalize the peace agreement, the conflict continues to play a major role in Israeli and international political, social and economic life . By 2010s, regional cooperation between Israel and many Arab League countries increased, while the Israeli security situation shifted from the traditional Arab--Israeli hostility towards regional rivalry with Iran and its proxies . The Iranian--Israeli conflict gradually emerged from the declared hostility of post-revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran towards Israel since 1979, into covert Iranian support of Hezbollah during the South Lebanon conflict and essentially developed into a proxy regional conflict from 2005 . With increasing Iranian involvement in Syria from 2011, the conflict shifted from proxy warfare into direct confrontation by early 2018 . </P>

Who owned israel before it became a country