Immigration into Israel

Abstract

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the first century led to a gradual movement of the Jewish population of Palestine towards the countries of the Dispersion (Diaspora). Only a dwindling number of Jewish inhabitants remained in Palestine under the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, and Turks. This population was reinforced from time to time — throughout the Dark Ages and the modern era — by Jewish immigrants who, singly or in groups, returned under the impulse of Messianic hopes or in order to worship the God of their fathers in the Land of Israel and to be buried there. However, it seems that bad economic conditions, lack of personal security, poor health standards, re-emigration, and high mortality greatly reduced the demographic influence of these movements. By the middle of the nineteenth century only some 12,000 Jews were to be found in Palestine; and even during the second half of that century, after contacts with Europe had increased, the Jewish population of Palestine consisted of some 24,000 souls only (1882).