From wikipedia's article on the history of Palestine:

> "Most of Palestine's population, estimated to be around 200,000 in the early years of Ottoman rule, lived in villages. The largest cities were Gaza, Safad and Jerusalem, each with a population of around 5,000–6,000."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine

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throw310822 9 hours ago | parent [-]

That's in the 16th century. Almost no Jews at that time either.

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motorest 9 hours ago | parent [-]

> That's in the 16th century.

OP's point was "Under the Ottoman Empire it was (relatively) scarcely populated and a mix of Jews, Christians and Muslims, plus some religious minorities."

What are you trying to dispute here? That the territory of today's Israel was sparsely populated back then, or that the Ottoman Empire existed back then?

> Almost no Jews at that time either.

What a wild claim: almost no Jews in places like Jerusalem? Please cite whatever source you have to make such an extraordinary claim.

	▲	throw310822 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> What are you trying to dispute here? That the territory of today's Israel was sparsely populated back then, or that the Ottoman Empire existed back then Exactly the part that you left out: that the Jewish presence (before zionist immigration began) was of any relevance in the demography of the region.