The early Arab Period (640-1099 A.D.) began with the final conquest of Palestine by the Arabs, capturing Caesarea as the last Byzantine stronghold. Although Palestine was now under Arab control, it would be several centuries before the majority of the population would speak Arabic and be converted to the teaching of Muhammad. Contributing to this gradual change were the immigrants flowing into Palestine especially from Arabia and Egypt.
The Jewish population was not large during this time; however they did build a synagogue in the front of the Cave of Machpelah and continued work in Tiberias on the Masoretic system of punctuation for the Hebrew Bible. This was a period of relative peace and productivity for the Jews in Palestine.
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