Ragman wrote:Why is it that Palestinian's Arabic and Islamic brethren historically did/do not want to grant them nationhood in their lands?
Palestinian national identity began to develope since the time of Ottoman rule over Palestine and became more focused after the British took control of the area after the First World War through their Palestine Mandate, and incorporated--through wording taken from their Balfour Declaration--the intent to establish a homeland for a European people, the Ashkenazim (to whom it referred generally as "the Jewish people") therein.
Palestinian nationhood is centred around the country (here meaning "the land of a person's birth, residence, or citizenship" [def. 2a. Merriam-webster's Collegiate Dictionary) of Palestine as defined by that mandate established near the turn of the last century, and the legacy thereof.
Distinct national identities in the Middle East were established in the lands formerly colonized by the victorious European countries at different times as these colonizing countries eventually gave up control and granted independence.
After Transjordan took control of the West Bank after the catastrophe of 1948, its parliament sanctioned the annexation the region in 1950. The government suppressed most independent Palestinian political activity as subversive to Transjordanian national unity. Egypt which controlled the Gaza strip allowed limited Palestinian nationalist activity insofar as it would not interfere with its armistice agreement with Israel. Israel, which took control over the remaining Palestinians in the territory it usurped after the war, maintained a military government up until 1966 over that population, severely restricted the population's movement and political freedoms, and expropriated Palestinian land for the exclusive disposal of Jews.
