Was Palestine "uncivilized" before the state of Israel was founded in 1948 ?

That might have been the opinion of certain European diplomats, but it's far from true.

The region where Israel sits today has been civilized for many thousands of years.  It was occupied by various peoples who have come and gone, and ruled by various kingdoms and empires that have ALSO come and gone.  So, it has been civilized since the Bronze Age, four thousand years ago, when the main civilization was the Canaanites.

Interestingly, being on the natural expansion route for hominine expansion/dispersal out of Africa, it was host to the earliest appearances of people outside of our land of origin, with the earliest evidence of "homo" species in Palestine going back 600,000 years.  Quite something when you consider "homo sapiens" wasn't even a twinkle in somebody's eye at that point, and wouldn't appear for 300-400 thousand years.  We first see evidence of "homo sapiens" in Palestine 120 thousand years ago.

There was already an established human culture living there from about 12 thousand years ago, even though agriculture hadn't been discovered/developed.  That's not necessarily the same thing as "civilization", though.  Those people (the "Natufians") were hunter-gatherers.  But we should keep in mind that by looking at hunter-gatherers today, or in recent history - like the North American native tribes - it's possible for hunter-gatherers to be highly civilized. 

Skipping forward in time quite a bit, at 4 thousand years ago, the Canaanites, who were a sophisticated urban/agricultural culture, were already established there.  These were the people who gave rise to the Jews.  We know this because of archeological evidence, scriptural references, and the fact that they were sophisticated enough to have attracted the attention and hostility or envy of neighboring Egypt, which left a historical record of a war with Canaan around 3500 years ago, that resulted in Egyptian rule in Palestine.

Egypt's administration was followed by a period in which Philistines and Israelites ran the region, and they were followed by a long series of over twenty different polities that conquered or subsumed the region.  For a while, it was the focus of the conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and Islam, and was considered the front line of western civilization's defense against the Mongol Horde, which destroyed Baghdad in 1258.  Finally, it was conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the early 1500s.  Palestine was part of Ottoman Syria.

The countries we think of as Israel and Palestine (or the region of Palestine, if you prefer) are both within what used to be Ottoman Syria, and came about after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.  They both sit within a zone that has been civilized almost as long as humans have known what civilization is.  They share scarcity of water, high temperatures, overgrazing, and almost constant warfare and so they seem to outside eyes to be barren, wild, and dangerous.  Ironically much of that is actually DUE to them being long-settled and -organized places that attract the attention of great outside powers, and give rise to worldwide movements.

Hello Andrew Noselli / Craig,

I refer to the question / answer awarded favorite:The question refers to “Palestine”. This name only applied to foreign rule of the land of Israel, first by the Romans who imposed that name to negate Israel / Judah as names for the land, and later for the Mandate awarded to Great Britain between 1922 and 1948. The Romans had resurrected the name “Palestine” (Philistine) from the region much smaller than Israel, in which the then defunct Philistines had been. Both of those usages of the name were rule by a foreign imperial power. There has never been any indigenous “Palestine” / Arab sovereign state in the land of Israel.- - - - Start of extract: - - - -“... After Roman times the name [“Palestine”] had no official status until after ... the end of rule by the Ottoman Empire, when it was adopted for one of the regions mandated to Great Britain ...”.Extract source:https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine%3E%3E%3... - - - End of extract - - - -(“Palestine” is also not a valid geographical term; a proper term for the general region would be: “Levant”.)The Asker uses the word “uncivilized” without specifying a time period other than prior to Modern re-established Israel. Therefore I assume he may imply “conflict”; in particular to the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews during the British Mandate.Israel was Re-established in 1948 following a United Nations Partition Plan under resolution 181, which had sought to set up two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews accepted the U.N. Partition Plan, but it requires more than one party to be an agreement. The “Palestinian” Arab response was to start a civil war to oppose it and instead take ALL the land, and expel or murder the Jewish population:http://www.middleeastpiece.com/palestinianviolence... Craig wrote:“[...] the Canaanites [...] were the people who gave rise to the Jews. We know this because of archeological evidence, scriptural references [...]”My response:I have seen something similarly-false asserted on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews). It provides one citation that fails to constitute supporting evidence because it is only “opinion”. An “opinion” even that of a scholar John Day, remains just “opinion” in the absence of supporting evidence.There is no “archeological evidence, scriptural references”, in support of any assertion that the Hebrews / Children of Israel, came from the Canaanites. The family of Abram (later Abraham) is considered to have came (as the Bible states) from “Ur of the Chaldees” (in what is now Iraq):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the_Chaldees%3... hope this helps.Robert.

as there is no "palestine" there is no answer to your question.  if your talking about the territory, conflict has existed there for CENTURIES.  where's the mystery here?

It was uncivilized         .

It never existed before 1948 it was made up. 

Civilized?  As much as anywhere that is ruled from afar by a foreign conquering nation (Britain), yes.  Palestine's roots as "civilized" go back in time to well before the island of Britain itself was "civilized", if you want a different way of looking at things.

Not at all.

A two state solution essential

It was a British territory before 1948, the Jews formed anti-British terrorist groups and bombed them. So it was a dangerous place

Omg, no. Things change, wars evolve. People are evil.

Is it civilized now?