The position of the land of Israel has not really been in favor of he Jewish population throughout the history. The reason for that is this land was in the neighborhood of much stronger and bigger empires, with the likes of the Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Phoenicia, being right next door, as well being occupied by the Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Ottomans, Arabs. Very often, they were conquering what is now Israel, and because the Jewish people were well known as rebellious people that would not stand occupation, on multiple occasions there were deportations of the population. There were few waves of forced movement of the Jewish people, which gradually took out most of the Jewish population out of their homeland, being dispersed mainly throughout the Mediterranean initially, and later on deeper into the European mainland.