Few events took place in Palestine after the Islamic conquest that were of sufficient importance to the medieval historians for them to record, and even less often are the Christians communities involved. It is thus not possible to present a continuous historical account of the events of each caliph’s reign and their policies towards the Christians, as they applied specifically to the area.

The Umayyad Period

After Caesarea fell to the Muslim invaders, the area seems to have remained peaceful for the most part. The fighting between Mu’āwiya and ‘Alī in the late 30s/late 650s took place elsewhere, as did most of the fighting between Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam and his son ‘Abd al- Malik and Ibn al-Zubayr in the 60s to early 70s/680s to early 690s, although ‘Abd al-Malik did defeat the invading forces of Ibn al-Zubayr at Ajnadayn in 65/685. Armies passed through the area from time to time, like the Umayyad force that secured Egypt for Marwān in 64/684, led by his son ‘Abd al-’Azīz, which proceeded from Aqaba across the Sinai peninsula, and which the forces of Ibn al-Zubayr vainly tried to stop. The movements of these armies, however, had no perceptible impact on the Christians in Palestine. There are no reports of looting or pillaging en route by the soldiers, who might plausibly have focused their attention on Christians or churches as easy targets. The claim that the church at Ostrakine, on the north Sinai coast, was destroyed during the campaign of Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam in 684 appears plausible, however.

The weakening of government control during the fighting between the Umayyads and Ibn al-Zubayr did, however, allow the Byzantines to raid the coast of Palestine successfully. Al-Balādhurī reports:

The Byzantines destroyed Ascalon and expelled its inhabitants in the days of Ibn al-Zubayr. When ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān became ruler, he rebuilt it and fortified it, and also repaired Caesarea … In the days of Ibn al-Zubayr the Byzantines went out against Caesarea, devastated it, and demolished its mosque. When ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān was settled in his rule, he repaired Caesarea, restored its mosque, and garrisoned it. Moreover, he built Tyre and outer Acre, both of which had shared the same fate as Caesarea.