Consider yourself really lucky if you have gone through life without someone denying your existence. I really didn’t choose to be Palestinian, nor do I particularly like having an ethnicity that some people find controversial. I just am what I am, I didn’t choose my ethnicity that just like Chinese people or Italians don’t choose their ethnicity…they just are who they are. To really get at the root of this matter, I took a DNA test. When I mailed off my DNA sample, I expected to learn more about my family’s recent origins. What I didn’t expect was a journey that would take me thousands of years into the past, connecting me to some of the oldest known civilizations of the Levant.
My results pointed 100% toward ancestry associated with ancient biblical populations: The Canaanites, The Phoenicians, and The Amorites—peoples who lived in the Levant, bordering the eastern Mediterranean long before the rise of Greece and Rome. This was a reminder to me that history is not just something we read about in books. In many ways, it lives on in the people who inhabit these lands today.
The Levant—encompassing present-day Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and parts of neighboring regions—has been continuously inhabited for millennia. It is one of the world’s oldest centers of civilization, home to early cities, trade networks, agriculture, and cultural exchange. Countless empires passed through these lands, including the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and many others. Yet despite centuries of migration and conquest, historians and geneticists have found evidence of significant continuity among the region’s populations.
Bougainvillea in Nazareth, Palestine
Recent genetic studies suggest that many modern Levantine communities—including Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Jordanians—share substantial ancestry with ancient populations that lived in the region during the Bronze Age. While no DNA test can identify a direct connection to a specific biblical figure, it can reveal links to populations that existed thousands of years ago and helped shape the history of the region.
For Palestinians, this continuity is particularly meaningful. Palestinian culture, traditions, cuisine, agriculture, dialects, and family histories reflect centuries of life in the same landscape. The olive groves, coastal cities, terraced hillsides, and ancient trade routes that shaped the lives of earlier inhabitants continue to influence daily life today.
What struck me most about my DNA results was not the percentages or the labels. It was the realization that history is far more personal than I had imagined. The names “Canaanite,” “Phoenician,” and “Amorite” had always felt distant, belonging to archaeology museums and ancient texts. Yet the DNA evidence suggests that the story of these civilizations did not simply disappear. Instead, it continued through generations of ordinary people who lived, worked, married, raised families, and passed their heritage on to their descendants.
The Levant has always been a crossroads of civilizations. Its people carry the legacy of countless influences, migrations, and cultural exchanges. But beneath those layers lies a remarkable thread of continuity stretching back thousands of years.
My DNA test did not just tell me where I came from. It reminded me that the story of the ancient Levant is not over. In many ways, it is still being written through the lives of the people who call this region home today. To see my DNA deep dive, check out my new video below:
Shukran, cuz, for mentioning our Palestine FIRST. . . .