Palestinian Jews, (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים פָלַסְטִינִים; Arabic: اليهود الفلسطينيون) are theJewish inhabitants ofhistoric Palestine (also called "Land of Israel") at various points in the region's history. Jews in Palestine before theIsraeli Declaration of Independence are more commonly referred to as "Yishuv" (Jewish Community orCommunity)[1]. A distinction is drawn between the "Old Yishuv" that is, the Jews ofPalestine before theIsraeli Declaration of Independence, and the "New Yishuv" that is the newly-arrived Jewish immigrant communities after theFirst Aliyah in1881. After theIsraeli Declaration of Independence, native Jews in Palestine becamecitizens of Israel, and the term "Palestinian Jews" largely fell into disuse.
Prior to dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian populace was not "Islamic". Under the empire's rule in the mid-16th century, there were no more than 10,000 Jews in historic Palestine[2], making up around 5% of the population. By the mid-19th century, Turkish sources recorded that 80% of the population of 600,000 was identified asMuslim(s), 10% asChristian Arab and 5–7% asJewish.
None of this seems particularly institutionalized. Where ascetic practices, mystical goals and some degree of organization more visibly came together was Safad, the center of Judahitish Kabbalah in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (II/9)!
