If my reading of the history of the Ancient Near East is correct Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region until the Alexander the Great entered the area. Greek and Aramaic were spoken in tandem, depending on who was in charge of the local administration. Arabic was not in use until the Islamic Arabs came up in the early decades of the seventh century. From what I understand up to that time the language of the adminstration of the Land of Israel was Byzantine Greek. The Jewish majority, who lived there until they were expelled in 617 C.E. spoke Aramaic, the language of the "Jerusalem Talmud". Other than that, it took a while until Arabic "took" as a lingua franca in the Mediteranean basin, so . . . Historically speaking, what can I tell ya'--the Arabs are the new boys on the block no matter how they try to put on a "ancient face".