ABSTRACT
The Arab conquest brought new settlers, who imposed the religion of Islam and the Arab language on all the inhabitants. Had the Arab conquest led to the formation of a crystallized Arab nation – no matter how small in number – it would have been difficult to contradict the claim of Arab historical continuity in Palestine. Social paroxysms, wars and destruction prevented the Arab population in Palestine from striking root and from handing down a tradition of permanent settlement from generation to generation. The population in Palestine underwent radical changes in the wake of two destructive wars that swept the country – Napoleon's campaign of 1799, and the invasion by the Egyptian army and the subsequent rule of Ibrahim Pasha between the years 1831–1840. The Egyptian settlers scattered to many urban and rural points, appropriated large tracts of land, and lent variety and numbers to the existing population.
