If you are so  sure that "Palestine, the country, goes back through most of recorded  history", I expect you to be  able to answer a  few basic questions about that country of Palestine:
When was it  founded and by whom?
What were its borders?
What was its capital?  
What were its major cities?
What constituted the basis of its  economy?
What was its form of government?
Can you name at least  one Palestinian leader before Arafat?
Was Palestine ever recognized by  a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for  interpretation?
What was the language of the country of Palestine?  
What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine?
What  was the name of its currency? Choose any date in history and tell what was  the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the  US dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan on that  date.
And, finally, since there is no such country today,  what  caused its demise and when did it occur?
You are lamenting the "low  sinking" of a "once proud" nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that  "nation" proud and what was it so proud of?
And here is the least  sarcastic question of all: If the people you mistakenly call  "Palestinians" are anything but generic Arabs collected from all over --  or thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a genuine ethnic  identity that gives them right for self-determination, why did they never  try to become independent until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in  the Six Day War?

I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern  day "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines: substituting etymology for  history won't work here.

The truth should be obvious to everyone who  wants to know it. Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of  destroying Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again  failed to achieve their evil goal with military means, they decided to  fight Israel by proxy. For that purpose, they created a terrorist  organization, cynically called it "the Palestinian people" and installed  it in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. How else can you explain the refusal by  Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the "West Bank" and Gaza,  respectively?
The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria  have much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that  successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of starting a  tax-exempt casino: at least that tribe had a constructive goal that  motivated them. The so called "Palestinians" have only one   motivation: the destruction of Israel, and in  my book that is  not sufficient to consider them a nation" -- or anything else except what  they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day be dismantled.

In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the Middle East.  Arab countries must acknowledge and accept their defeat in their war  against Israel and, as the losing side should, pay Israel reparations for  the more than 50 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most  appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal of their  terrorist organization from the land of Israel and accepting Israel's  ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.
That will mark the  end of the Palestinian people. What are you saying again was its  beginning?