@Nick Carter icp AI says At the end of Ottoman rule, around 1918, there were roughly 60,000 Jews in Palestine, about 9 percent of the population. Estimates vary a bit because wartime expulsions and migration changed the numbers quickly. � Wikipedia +1 Before the big Zionist immigration waves, the Jewish population had been much smaller. Around 1882 it was roughly 24,000, about 8 percent. By 1914 estimates range from about 59,000 to 94,000, depending on the source and definitions used. � Wikipedia +1 So yes, there was a continuous Jewish presence, but Jews were still a small minority at the end of Ottoman rule.