This point is close, but I think it rather misses the concept of what an Arab is. Ethnic identity is based a lot on language. Kurds remained a different ethnic group because they didn't Arabize. Arab is a very general ethnic term encompassing a lot of different sub-ethnicities and historical groups like Egyptians, Nubians, the mixed Sudanese tribes, even Bedouins and some Berbers and yes the descendants of the Phoneticians, and Philistines (aka Palestinians); there are a couple of border ethnicties that are one might say dual ethnicities like formerly what were considered to be Jewish Arabs, some Kurds (like Saladin), Somalis, etc. Then there are completely different ethnicities like the Turkish groupings.
Palestinians are Arabs, but they are also Arab Palestinians. They have that strong sub-ethnicity due to common history.
in this context the term Arab is used by Isrealis as part of their propaganda machine to delegitimize their claim on the land of Palestine.
Arabic is just a language it does not represent any ethnic group any more than English as a language represents any particular ethnic group.
Calling Palestinians Arabs is like Calling Americans, Australians, NewZealanders and Canadians... English.
they are not English they only speak English.
the term Palestinian also does not exactly represent any ethnic group but it is more accurate to call them Palestinians than Arabs because they are the people who were born from (or decendants) of the people who lived in the territory called Palestine..
they are not foreign invaders they are the natives who were force off their land by the foreign invaders from Europe who called themselves Isrealis.
maybe 2000 years ago when the Palestinians were known as Philistines they were foreigners but not today... they have been living on the land continuously and of course mixing with every foreign invader for more than 2000 years. Unlike the vast majority of Isrealis who have only been living on the land since the earlier part of the 1900s and many of whom were not even born on that land and claim to have not mixed their blood with anyone (even though there are Jews of every color on earth)
these are the problems with the Zionist movement and a similarities it shares with the Aryan (AKA white supremacist) movement.
they are forbidden from inter marrying with anyone who is not of their race .. i.e. Jewish.
non jews are forbidden from purchasing land and easily emigrating to Isreal.
it is even frowned upon for Jewish children to have non Jewish friends (especially arabic speaking ones)
you are forbidden from converting to Judaism. you cannot become a jew even if you somehow manage to marry one.
your children can only be jewish if their mother is a jew...
if you are a jew but do not understand the culture or language you get a free passport on arrival.
when you become of age you must join the Isreali army and you must pledge your allegiance to the Zionist cause.
if you are a non jew, an orthodox jew or a black jew who protests peacefully against the policies of the state of Isreal you will be beaten and perhaps even jailed without charge.
if you are a Palestinian who protested against the policies of isreal you may even have your business shutdown or your house bulldozed.
if you commit any act of violence against isrealis that is considered life threatening.. consider yourself dead.
im not making this stuff up this is actually what happens in Isreal under the right wing Zionist regime.
I must stress, most of this is not Jewish culture I am talking about.. these are the policies and practices of Isreal.
and yes there are other countries in the middle east who share some of these practices for their own majority ethnic groups.
