Basic History for the Uninformed: 1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state. 2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state. 3. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a Palestinian state. 4. Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid-Kurdish Empire, not a Palestinian state. 5. Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Crusader Frankish and the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state. 6. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there were the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a Palestinian state. 7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a Palestinian state. 8. there was the Sassanid-Persian Empire before the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state. 9. Before the Sassanid-Persian Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire again, not a Palestinian state. 10. there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state, before the Byzantine Empire. 11. Before the Roman Empire, there was the Jewish Hasmonean state, not a Palestinian state. 12. Before the Jewish Hasmonean state was the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, not a Palestinian state. 13. Before the Hellenistic Seleucid empire, there was Alexander the Great's empire, not a Palestinian state. 14. Before Alexander the Great, there was the Persian Empire, not a Palestinian state. 15. Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state. 16. Before the Babylonian Empire, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were not Palestinian states. 17. Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state. 18. Before the Kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state. 19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state. There have been many governments there, but never a Palestine.