The idea is deeply rooted on the left idea about some sort of ancient Palestinian people. Of course the truth is that Palestine has been a no man’s land occupied by a succession of powers from the time of the Roman conquest. The idea of a “Palestinian” people only arises as European nationalism spreads into the post Ottoman era. Even then no one, except Arabs who were opposed to the growth of the Israeli/Zionist community, thought of the land west of the Jordan as its own country, rather than as part of what is now Jordan or what was Syria.
After losing their efforts to conquer Israel, Egypt changed all that with help from Nazi Germany!
Otto Skorzeny
” In 1952, when Egypt had been taken over by General Mohammed Naguib, Skorzeny was sent to Egypt the following year by former General Reinhard Gehlen (who was now working for the CIA) to act as Naguib’s military advisor. Skorzeny recruited a staff made up of former SS and Wehrmacht officers to train the Egyptian army. Among these officers were SS General Wilhelm Farmbacher, Panzer General Oskar Munzel, Leopold Gleim, head of the Gestapo Department for Jewish Affairs in Poland, and Joachim Daemling, former chief of the Gestapo in Düsseldorf. In addition to training the army, Skorzeny also trained Arab volunteers in commando tactics for possible use against British troops stationed in the Suez Canal zone. Several Palestinian refugees also received commando training, and Skorzeny planned their raids into Israel via the Gaza Strip in 1953-1954. One of these Palestinians was Yasser Arafat He would eventually serve as an adviser to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny