Answers to Questions by Yair Davidiy
Are there people in Israel that can say their ancestors were in Israel since ancient times, and stayed despite occupations and mistreatment?
https://www.quora.com/Are-there-people-in-Israel-that-can-say-their-ancestors-were-in-Israel-since-ancient-times-and-stayed-despite-occupations-and-mistreatment/answer/Yair-Davidiy
The above illustration shows a menorah depicted on the wall of a synagogue dating from the 200s and 300s CE in Pekiin Northern Galilee.
See: Peki'in village in the Galilee, Ancient synagogue in Peki'in
There was a Jewish community in Pekiin from before the Second Temple Period almost up to the present! Pekiin is in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. The present-day inhabitants are mainly Druze.
Jews dwelt in this village continuously until the 1936-1939 Arab Riots when they left. After the Riots one family, the Zinatis, returned. At present only one member of this family remains.
Concerning Jews dwelling in the Land it may be said that:
The Jewish inhabitants of the Land increased or decreased in number according to political and economic circumstance.
Whenever political conditions allowed Jews made attempts to return and build up the land.
On the whole the number of Jews was in accordance to the possibilities.
In a practical sense the Jews never gave up their claims to the land and always made attempts to settle it.
Jewish religious communities all over the world, even at the worst of times, constantly raised money to help Jewish settlement in the Holy Land.