re: Was it a mistake for Jewish people to live near Arab-dominated Middle East?

It's their ancestral homeland. Almost all of Jewish Biblical history occurred in Judea and Samaria, which the world conveniently calls the West Bank. Calling it the West Bank is a tactic to eradicate the past and the Jews' claim to the land. (Think of the 1619 crap, or tearing down Confederate statues. It's the same thing.) God said He would bring the Jewish people back into their own land in the last days. Anyone who dares dispute what He swore He would do is a fool.

I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. - Amos 9:14-15.