Western Semeites came from Iraq and spread out in the Levant.

The original homeland of all ancient Semitic peoples, including Hebrews, was not
northern Arabia, as is currently believed, but northwestern Mesopotamia. Around 6,000-
4,000 years B.C., an ecological catastrophe in the Black Sea area forced the IndoEuropean tribes to migrate outward in all directions. On their way to the south and the
south-east, the Indo-Arians displaced and partially mingled with the Hurrians of Eastern
Anatolia. In turn, arianized Hurrians first displaced the Eastern Semites (Akkadians) from
the upper courses of Tigris, and then, at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., occupied the
land of Western Semites (Amorites) in the upper courses of Euphrates. The referencing
by the Bible of Harran as the original birthplace of Abraham is the indirect evidence of
these ethnic changes. The last wave of Western Semites (Arameans) in 12-11 centuries
B.C. was also caused by the movements of Hurrians and Indo-Europeans in northwestern
Mesopotamia.

 The ancient Near East represented a world dominated by Semitic peoples. Akkad
and Assyria, Babylonia and Phoenicia, Israel and the Syrian kingdoms were all the
offspring of the Semites’ activities. Although Sumer, the first country in the world, was
not of Semitic origin, its inhabitants had already been, since ancient times, fully
assimilated with the Semites and had become an integral part of their world. Egypt, on
the other hand, had long resisted the supremacy of the Semitic peoples; however it also
finally adopted their language and culture. The Indo-Europeans appeared later on the
scene. More importantly, their first countries, including the Hittite Empire, remained on
the periphery within the northern and eastern boundaries of the Near East. This same
concept applied to the Hurrians, an ancient, non-Semitic people whose ethnic origin is
still unclear at present.

 Today, most believe that the original homeland of the ancient Semites should
indeed be sought in the Near East. But where should we look? In the twentieth century,
the opinion was established that the most probable region of the Semites’ origin was in
northern Arabia. Its geographical position, in the center of the modern Semitic world,
allows for an easy explanation of these peoples’ dispersion in the Near East. This version
is also ideal for understanding the diffusion of the Semitic languages group. In favor of