"Who are the Palestinians? There are no such people" Golda Meir said. While she was being more than a bit disingenious, she had a point. The "Palestinian" identity as we know it today did not exist before 1967. This is not to say that the land now claimed by Israel was uninhabited before 1948; after the war some 550,000 Arabic-speaking refugees found themselves in camps throughout the surrounding states. But those refugees did not call themselves "Palestinians" - rather, they thought of themselves as Arabs. They did not see this land as "Palestine" but as part of "Greater Syria" or "Transjordan" … and looked forward not to an independent Palestinian state but to a reunification with the land's "rightful rulers" in the neighboring kingdoms.

Much as the modern Jewish identity was forged in the ghettos, the Palestinian identity has been created by generations spent as second-class citizens. Of the surrounding countries, only Jordan offered the refugees citizenship. For all the lip service Syria and other countries paid to the "Palestinian problem," they did very little to improve the plight of those who had fled the 1948 conflict. Those refugees remained in squalid refugee camps, denied passports and forced to subsist as menial laborers working on the black market. As a marginalized second and third generation grew up in the camps, they became increasingly angry. Their frustration was directed not only toward Israel but also the regimes their parents had once looked to as rulers. They came to see themselves not as disenfranchised Syrians or Lebanese, but as "Palestinians" After the Six-Day War, they saw Yasser Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organization as their true leaders… and began demanding their own "Free Palestine."

The situation for Arabs living in Israel and the Occupied Territories was in many respects better than for those in the refugee camps. They were stateless and disenfranchised, but their standard of living was better. At their most brutal, the Israeli occupiers still had a better human rights record toward the Palestinians than most of the surrounding countries, particularly Syria. There were also more opportunities for employment … unfortunately, much of this employment was manual labor for Israeli farmers and factory owners. The original Zionists had planned an Israel where the Jews could "return to the soil" as hard-working proletarians. Their descendents became increasingly reliant on Palestinian labor, much as many American businesses have become dependent upon legal and illegal immigrants. This led to an explosive demographic situation, with a Jewish bourgeoisie dependent upon a Palestinian working class… and all the attendant social ills that implies.

The Middle East may be a place with a long history… but most of the states which currently exist there are of recent vintage. Before the British Mandate this area was part of the Ottoman Empire; most of the residents would have identified themselves by tribal affiliation, religious denomination, family heritage, or some combination thereof. Only after the post-colonial maps were drawn did people begin identifying as "Syrians," "Lebanese," "Israelis," "Iraqis," "Saudis," "Jordanians," etc. This has led to enormous confusion among the residents of these new-old states, as they struggle to define themselves in a post-colonial world. Some have turned toward secular pan-Arabic nationalism. The Baath Party envisoned a unified Arab state stretching from the Mediterranean to the borders of China, governed under one flag. Sadaam Hussein is probably the most famous Baathist; he enjoyed widespread support amongst many Palestinians, and returned the favor by providing funding to the families of suicide bombers and otherwise encouraging the Intefada. Others have looked toward religion; Hamas fights for a unified Islamic Empire, with Jerusalem, the city of Mohammed's "Night Journey to Heaven" as its centerpiece.

In the 19th century, the British and Russians played the "Great Game" across Central Asia. Today many in the Arab world seek to play this game with the Palestinians. The Saudis have funded Hamas and, indirectly, Al-Qaeda. The Iranians, who first popularized suicide bombings, have provided money and materiel to the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon and Syria, while other Arab leaders have "waved the bloody shirt" to divert attention from their own shortcomings. Most seek to gain a foothold in the Land of Canaan, and to put forth their own brand of Islam, or their own vision of a unified Arab state. They are likely to find no more success in this endeavor than Britian and Russia found in their diplomatic maneuvers and counter-maneuvers. For better or worse, there are now "Palestinians." As they become unified, especially in a post-Arafat society, they may well seek to follow their own path and to resent outside influences from any quarter.