John Cross from Drumwaster’s Rant has a nice history and analysis of Israel and Palestine.

So, there is a UN-recognized nation of Israel. There has been a recognized nation of Israel, off and on, for 3200 or so years. There has never, ever been a recognized nation of Palestine, and even with the ‘Phillistine’ tag, never a nation that was made up of Semites, or Arabs, that called itself ‘Palestine’.
Having studied this, it boggles my mind that Yasser Arafat, that pus-sucking, freeloading ass imp, screams about Palestinan Independance. They never had any, never earned any, and would never, ever have had the chance at it, except for the existance of two nations:
The United States and Israel. Only those two nations have offered real solutions to those Arabs that have been led to believe that Palestine exists. Lord knows that the Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, Saudis, and Iraqis, have done nothing. Hell, Jordan was supposed to be the Arab part of ‘Palestine’! Look at the Belfour Agreement, and Resolution 181! Jordan has steadfastly refused to give up any territory for the formation of a ‘Palestinian’ state, as have all the other Arab countries that I mentioned. They HATE the ‘Palestinians’, folks…they are scum to the rest of the Arabs. The only purpose they have is that the Arabs can use them as political cannon fodder within the decrepid halls of the UN.

His conclusion: Israel is legit, Palestine is not. Go read the whole thing.