PART II.
PEOPLES AND RELIGIONS.
§ 1. Race and Language.
Palestine, the land which has given to the world Judaism and Christianity and has played an important part in the early development of Islam, is now inhabited by representatives of many races. The largest element of the population is composed of Arabs and Syrians,[1] both separately and in every degree of combination. The language of this element is Arabic; its religions are Islam and Christianity. Next in numerical strength are the Jews, whose languages will be referred to below. Immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has contributed the bulk of the present Jewish population of Palestine; the sole representatives of ancient Israel continuously inhabiting the country are to be found in the small remnant of the Samaritans (cf. infra). Other races are only represented on a small scale, and will be referred to below under their religious classifications.
§ 2. Population.
No census has been taken in Palestine since the country has come under British administration, and it is therefore impossible to give in this edition of the Handbook
- ↑ For the definition of the wider sense in which the term "Syrian" is used here, see below, § 3.
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