@Spoon
Reading far too much Leon Uris in my younger days, my introduction to the history was the alternative history that underpins Israeli Zionism. Realising the carefully crafted deceit came slowly.
I was recently challenged to deny that Jews are "indigenous" to the area. My response that there are Moslems, Jews and Christians who are indigenous was met with an assertion that Jews were there "first".
The region being a route from Africa to Europe, there's evidence of modern humans in the area 120,000 years ago. Judaism hasn't existed that long.
Before that, there were other hominids. The earliest remains are estimated to be 1.5 million years old.