[1][2] Those sharing this surname are the descendants of Bosnian Muslims, apprehensive of living under Christian rule after the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, immigrated to Ottoman Syria.

[1] More substantial movement occurred after 1878, when the Austro-Hungarian empire, ruled by the House of Habsburg, occupied Bosnia.

Bosnian Muslim emigration continued through this period, escalating after the Austro-Hungarian's 1908 annexation of Bosnia.

Bosnian immigrants settled predominantly in villages in the parts of the present day West Bank and Israel: Caesarea, Yanun, Nablus and Tulkarem.

Their descendants still live in these villages, their Bosnian heritage reflected in the Arab surname of Bushnak.