Historical Background Note:
Palestine dates back to about 3000 BC, and for 1500 years it was the land of the Canaanites. The Egyptians then occupied it until 1200 BC when the Philistines took it over. They in turn were followed by the Israelites (1000-923BC: 77 years), the Phoenicians (923-700BC), the Assyrians (700-612BC), the Babylonians (until 539BC), the Persians (until 332BC), the Macedonians (until 63BC), the Romans (until 636AD), the Arabs (636-1200: 564 years), the Crusaders (1099-1291), the Ayubiyyin (1187-1253), The Memluks (1253-1516) followed by the Ottoman rulers (400 years) until 1917 (the year of the Balfour Declaration). The British Mandate took over in 1919.
When empires eventually disappeared, sovereignty became the natural aim of the indigenous people of the land. Where colonialism refused to let go, national wars of liberation took hold until independence was achieved. In places where the population, through brute force, was annihilated or ethnically cleansed by the occupying communities, the latter became the new nation states (as did happen in the Americas and elsewhere).
In the Middle East, after WW1, the victorious Allies divided the region between the French and the British. These mandated states, under the guidance of the League of Nations, eventually evolved into nation states as their Mandate periods came to an end.
Except, of course, for Palestine.
