Do Palestinians trace themselves to pre-Islamic ancient Judeans?
Executive summary
Palestinians generally trace their roots to the ancient peoples of the Levant—often described as Canaanite or indigenous to the southern Levant—and many narratives among Palestinians include descent from pre-Islamic inhabitants of the region, which can encompass ancient Judeans; genetic and historical scholarship finds strong continuity between modern Palestinians, Jews, and other Levantine populations rather than a simple, exclusive lineage [1] [2] [3].
1. How Palestinians describe their deep past: indigenous Levantines, Canaanite continuity, and local claims of Hebrew or Samaritan descent
Many Palestinian intellectuals and communities assert a long-standing, local identity that ties them to the region’s pre-Islamic past—often framed as descent from indigenous Bronze- and Iron-Age Levantines such as the Canaanites and, in some narratives, the ancient Hebrews/Judeans; historians like Walid Khalidi have documented that Palestinians have long understood themselves as descended from peoples who lived “in the country since time immemorial, including the ancient Hebrews and the Canaanites” [4] [1]. Some specific Palestinian families and localities preserve traditions and claims of Jewish or Samaritan ancestry—examples recorded in ethnographic and encyclopedic sources include Hebron and Nablus families claiming such roots and preserving certain cultural customs [4] [5].
2. What genetics and archaeology say about shared ancestry with ancient Judeans and other Levantines
Multiple genetic and archaeogenetic studies find substantial continuity in the Levant over millennia and show that modern Palestinians cluster closely with Jews, Druze, Bedouins and other Levantine groups—findings summarized in population genetics work and reviews indicate shared ancestry with Bronze‑Age Canaanite-like populations rather than exclusive descent from one later group [2] [3] [1]. Ancient‑DNA research and genome-wide analyses suggest present-day Levantines derive much of their ancestry from local Bronze‑Age populations and that later migrations contributed admixture but did not wholly replace earlier gene pools, which supports the claim of long regional continuity that can plausibly include lineages present in pre‑Islamic Judea [6] [1].
3. Why “tracing to ancient Judeans” is not a single, simple claim
Tracing identity to “ancient Judeans” can mean different things—cultural memory, documented family traditions, or genetic continuity—and the evidence differs by mode: some Palestinians maintain oral or family claims of descent from Jews or Samaritans (a cultural/identity claim), while genetic studies indicate broad shared ancestry among Levantine groups (a population-genetic claim) rather than proving specific genealogies for every modern family [5] [3] [4]. Political actors and popular writers push competing theses—some Israeli commentators and bloggers argue that most Palestinians descend from Jews [7], while scholars emphasize complex admixture and common Canaanite roots shared by Jews and Palestinians [2] [6]; these divergent emphases reveal partisan uses of history and genetics to support contemporary territorial and national claims [7] [6].
4. Bottom line, and limits of the evidence
The balanced conclusion supported by the available reporting is that Palestinians commonly see themselves as indigenous to the southern Levant, and scholarly genetic and archaeological work corroborates deep regional continuity that links modern Palestinians, ancient Canaanites, and peoples of the Iron Age—including populations present in pre‑Islamic Judea—without establishing simple one‑to‑one genealogical descent for all individuals [1] [2] [3]. Sources show both individual Palestinian families with claimed Jewish or Samaritan roots and population-scale genetic affinity with Jews and other Levantines, but the evidence does not mean every Palestinian traces his or her ancestry directly to a named Judean ancestor; genetic continuity and cultural memory coexist with later admixture, migration, and the political instrumentalization of origins [4] [8] [6].