Many of Palestinians could be descendants of biblical Jews, who did not migrate to other parts of Roman Empire, and later, in order to survive the pressure of Muslim invaders of the territory, had to convert themselves to Muslim religion. On the other side, Jews are predominantly descendants from the people of Khazaria, the medieval state on the territory of today's Ukraine. They are called Ashkenazi Jews and are of Turkish stock with some Ruthenian/Slavic admixture. They are newcomers to the territory of Palestine.
