But it's absolutely true that Palestinian Arabs didn't view themselves
as a separate political identity until very recently in history, definitely a 20th century invention, first noted after the UN partition, and only took hold with any significance after the 1967 war. The PLO, as an umbrella political organization for Palestinians, didn't even exist until 1964. Arafat himself is actually an Egyptian, born in Cairo in 1929, who claims "Palestinian" heritage through his family in Jerusalem.