Man lived in Palestine since early ancient ages. There are ruins which trace back to the ancient Stone Age (500,000-14,000 BC) and the middle Stone Age (14,000-8000 BC). This age in Palestine is called Al-Natoofieh civilization, attributed to Al-Natoof caves, north of Jerusalem. Al-Natoof origin is not yet known. Their civilization was concentrated on the coast. They lived in caves such as those found on Al-Karmel Mountain.

In the Modern Stone Age (8000-4500 BC) the cave life of man in Palestine was changed to settlements. He changed from food collector to food producer. The first evidence supporting settlement life appeared in Jericho, which is the most ancient city in the world. It was established in 8000 BC.

The Brass Stone Age ran from 4500 BC to 3300 BC. A lot of archaeological civilization locations that trace back to that era were discovered in the Beer Sheba region, between the Hebron mountains and the Dead Sea and along the sea coast of Al-Khudiera.

The beginning of the third millennium BC was characterized with the emergence of the old empires in the east accompanied by the discovery of writing and the start of writing history. From here, historical ages started in Palestine.

The era that extended from 3200 BC to 2000 BC is called the Ancient Bronze Age. It was characterized by the emergence of the fortified defending towns built on high hills.

They were spread out in large numbers, and most of them were built in the middle and north of Palestine. The most important locations were in Bashan, Majideo, Al-Afoula, Ras Al-Nakoura and Tal Al-Farei'a north of Nablus. In the third millennium BC, the population of Palestine increased, and the cities grew and became political and economic powers. This period can be called the period of "small-States of towns."

During the third millennium BC, the Ammonites, the Canaanites and also the Yabousians and the Phoenicians, which are considered sub-branches of the Canaanites, had migrated to settle in Palestine. Their emigration to Palestine was around 2500 BC. The Canaanites settled on the plains of Palestine and the Ammonites settled in the mountains. The Yabousians settled in and around Jerusalem; they built the city of Jerusalem and named it "Yabous" then "Hierosolyma". The Phoenicians settled on the north coast of Palestine and in Lebanon.

Reliable historians believe that the Ammonites, the Canaanites, the Yabousians and the Phoenicians had come from the Arab peninsula and that the majority of the current population of Palestine, especially the villagers, are the offspring of those old tribes and peoples or the Arab and Muslims who settled there after the Muslim Conquest.

During that period, the emigration of the Canaanites took place on a large scale. They became the original population of the country. The name of "Land of Canaan" was the oldest name to which the land of Palestine had been known. The Canaanites built most of the towns in Palestine. Their number-within the borders of the current Palestine-was more than 200 towns during the second millennium BC, hundred of years before the coming of the HebraiJews. In addition to Jericho and Jerusalem, there were other old towns, namely Shechem (Balatah, Nablus), Bashan, Ashkelon, Akka, Haifa, Hebron, Ashdod, A'aqur, Beer Sheba and Bethlehem.

After that time, the Middle Bronze Age followed from 2000 BC to 1550 BC. The first half of the second millennium BC witnessed the dominion of the Hyksos, who ruled Palestine during the eighteenth to sixteenth centuries BC. It seems that during this age (around 1900 BC), Abraham (peace be upon him) came to Palestine accompanied by his nephew "Lut" (peace be upon him) and there, Isma'il, Isaac and Jacob (peace be upon them) were born.

The Late Bronze Age (1550 BC-1200 BC) started with the withdrawal of the Hyksos dominion from Palestine and the subsequent control by the absolute Egyptian regime. As to the Iron Age (1200 BC-330 BC), it seems that in its early period (approximately 1200 BC), Palestine had received groups of emigrants who came from various regions, the most important ones were "the peoples of the sea" migrations. It seems that they came from western Asia and from islands of the Aegean Sea (Crete and others). At the beginning, those peoples launched their attacks against the coasts of Syria and Egypt, but Ramses the Third, Pharaoh of Egypt, drove them away from his country in the Blouzioun battle (near Port Said) and gave them permission to settle in the southern part of Palestine. In the archeological inscriptions, the name of "PLST" was mentioned and, accordingly, those peoples were called "Palestians" and then the letter "n" was inserted in their name (maybe because of the plural). So they became the "Palestinians". The Palestinians built five kingdoms, including the cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Jet, Aqroun and Ashkelon. These cities were possibly ancient Canaanites, and they expanded and organized them and built two new cities, namely Lod and Saklash. They occupied the rest of the coast up to the Al-Karmel Mountains. Then they captured Marj Ibn Amir. The Palestinians soon mixed with the Canaanites, used their language and worshipped their gods (Dajoun, B'al and Ashtar). Although the Palestinians had been mixed with the people, they gave this land their name, so, it was called Palestine.

It is apparent from the comparative historical indications that Moses (peace be upon him) led the Children of Israel towards the Holy Land in the second half of the thirteenth century BC, i.e. in the Late Bronze Age. This Age and the Early Iron Age witnessed the beginning of the Jews entering Palestine and the emergence of the Kingdom of David and Solomon (peace be upon them) between 1004 BC and 923 BC. This period was divided into two kingdoms: the Israel Kingdom (923 BC-722 BC) and the Judah Kingdom (923 BC-586 BC). Each one ruled over a limited part of the land of Palestine. From 730 BC, Palestine, in general, was under the Assyrian dominion, which came from Iraq, till 645 BC. Thereafter, the Babylonians were the successors in dominion till 539 BC. The Assyrians and the Babylonians exchanged the domination over Palestine with Egypt. Then, the Persians invaded Palestine and ruled it from 539 BC to 332 BC. After that, Palestine entered the Greek Hellenistic Age. It was ruled by the Ptolemaics till 198 BC and was followed by Seleucias till 64 BC, at which time the Romans came and dominated over Palestine. After the division of the Roman Empire, Palestine was still influenced by the Eastern Roman Empire "Roman State", with Constantinople as its capital. Thereafter, the Muslim Conquest took place and gave it its Arab-Islamic character.

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