The reputed Golda Meir quote “there is no such thing as a Palestinian” I have interpreted as “the identity didn’t precede the establishment of the state of Israel” and think the counterpoint is “yeah but until then there was no such thing as an Israeli”

But to take it more seriously, the idea of “nationalism” was one that a century after the French Revolution was still spreading eastward

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey famously had a nationalist palingenesis under Ataturk, the House of Saud consolidated power as the Saudis, other places did their own thing (toyed with by the British/French so they’d have ins with whoever finished on top)

Nearby Jordan wasn’t “Land of the Jordanians” so much as “Land of the Hashemite Dynasty” (people tried to make it “Land of the Palestinians” in Black September 1970 but were repulsed!)

You saw recently with Syria! It’s a dynasty, and a few Arab tribes, and some of the tribes are used as a civic elite… but it’s not a nation with an identity.

And if “Palestinian” is basically an after-the-fact identity of “obstacle to Zionism” why would serious Zionists respect it?