What wars were fought in Palestine region before 1948?

WW1 when Palestine was part of the Turkish Empire and the jewish population was only 5%.

WW2

War on Terror by the British Administration of Palestine in the 1940s against jewish terrorists who beat the British and went on to form the first government of Israel

Jews have not "always lived in the middle east alongside their Arab half brothers". Before the Zionist movement of the mid to late 19th century there were very few Jews living n Palestine after the expulsions in ancient Roman times.

That said, Palestine is a bit of a crossroads. There have been battles fought there for millennia between the Egyptians and the civilisations of the Tigris/Euphrates and Anatolia. Alexander invaded. Then the Romans. Then there were the Crusades, and battles between Arabs and the Byzantine Empire. A quiet time under the Ottoman empire, followed by campaigns in both world wars.

To support Iansand's answer, look here for some indication of the population of Palestine at the beginning of the 20th century.

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exayarea.ht...