Analisis Eurosentrik terhadap negara-negara Arab telah gagal mengiktiraf bahawa kebanyakan negara Arab dan sempadan mereka berasaskan secara rapat pada duluan sejarah yang panjang (pra-kolonial), termasuk penamaan negara. Dalam kes Palestin, sebagaimana dalam kes kebanyakan entiti politik Arab yang lain, sejak zaman dahulu dan sepanjang Zaman Pertengahan, nama Filastin telah menandakan lokasi geografi yang tepat dan identiti penduduk Arab Muslim (yang kebanyakannya, tetapi tidak secara eksklusif). Lebih-lebih lagi, sejarah Palestin moden sering dikaji dari dan bersama perspektif Eropah, Uthmaniyyah dan peneroka Zionis; ejen dan suara autonomi Palestin serta rakyat Palestin sendiri jarang diiktiraf. Dengan minda imperial dan kolonial ini, sejarawan Timur Tengah moden juga cenderung menumpukan perhatian kepada Empayar Uthmaniyyah dan "pembaharuan Uthmaniyyah", yang juga sebahagian daripada tradisi Barat yang panjang tentang keasyikan dengan kronologi empayar Timur Dekat: Assyria, Parsi, Yunani, Rom, Uthmaniyyah, British dan lain-lain. Namun dawlah al-qutriyyah, atau negara/negeri – istilah Arab qutr bermaksud 'negara' – sebagai suatu parakronisme, sama ada secara tradisional dalam bentuk sultanah, emiriah, kerajaan, khanat, shaykhdom, wilayat, khalifah atau nama lain apa pun, merupakan salah satu bentuk negara yang paling lazim sepanjang sejarah Islam dan di negara-negara yang majoritinya Muslim; suatu bentuk kenegaraan yang sering menikmati kedaulatan praktikal. Khalifah Córdoba (929 hingga 1031 M), Emiriah Granada (1230‒1492), khanat-khanat Asia Tengah, Sultanah Oman (1741 hingga kini), Bey Tunis (1705‒1957), Emiriah Gunung Lubnan (1516‒1841), negara Saudi pertama (Emiriah Dir'iyah, 1744‒1818) dan Wilayat Muhammad 'Ali Pasha di Mesir (1805‒1948) hanyalah beberapa contoh betapa luasnya bentuk kenegaraan ini sepanjang sejarah Islam. Sebahagian dawlah qutriyyah, seperti Kesultanan Mamluk di Mesir (1250–1517), jauh lebih berkuasa daripada Khilafah Muslim di Baghdad pada kurun ke-11 hingga ke-13. Bukan suatu penyimpangan, dawlah qutriyyah menjadi perkara yang lazim di seluruh dunia Arab dan Islam, terutamanya selepas kemerosotan Khilafah Abbasiyyah pada separuh kedua kurun ke-9 Masihi, dan banyak negara merdeka ini menikmati kemakmuran yang besar serta perkembangan kebudayaan yang luar biasa.

The Eurocentric analysis of the Arab states has failed to recognise that most of the Arab countries and their borders are closely based on long (pre-colonial) historical precedents, including the naming of states. In the case of Palestine, as in the case of most other Arab political entities, traditionally and throughout the Middle Ages the name Filastin had indicated both an exact geographic location and the identity of the (predominantly, but not exclusively) Arab Muslim population. Moreover, the history of modern Palestine is often studied from and with European, Ottoman and Zionist-settler perspectives; the autonomous agency and voice of Palestine and the Palestinians themselves are seldom recognised. With this imperial and colonial mindset, historians of the modern Middle East also tend to focus on the Ottoman Empire and ‘Ottoman reforms’, which is also part of a long Western tradition of preoccupation with imperial chronologies of the Near East: Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Ottoman, British etc. Yet the dawlah al-qutriyyah, or the country/state – the Arabic term qutr being a ‘country’ – as a parachronism, and whether traditionally in the form of sultanate, emirate, kingdom, khanate, shaykhdom, wilayat, caliphate or any other name, was one of the most common forms of statehood throughout Muslim history and in Muslim-majority countries; a statehood which often enjoyed practical sovereignty. The Caliphate of Córdoba (929 to 1031 AD), the Emirate of Granada (1230‒1492), the Khanates of Central Asia, the Sultanate of Oman (1741 to the present), the Beys of Tunis (1705‒1957), the Emirate of Mount Lebanon (1516‒1841), the first Saudi state (the Emirate of Dir’iyah, 1744‒1818) and the Wilayat of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha of Egypt (1805‒1948) are only a few examples of how incredibly widespread this form of statehood was throughout Muslim history. Some dual qutriyyah, such as the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (1250–1517), were far more powerful than the Muslim Caliphate of Baghdad during the 11th‒13th centuries. Far from being an aberration, the dawlah qutriyyah became common throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds, especially after the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate in the second half of the 9th century AD and many of these independent states enjoyed a great deal of prosperity and spectacular cultural developments.

Sebagai contoh, Emirat Aleppo yang merdeka, yang meliputi kebanyakan wilayah utara Syria dan sebahagian daripada barat al-Jazirah, telah didirikan pada tahun 944 oleh putera-putera Hamdaniyah dan menjadi pusat sebuah emirat yang merdeka di bawah Sayf al-Dawlah. Ia menikmati tempoh kemakmuran yang luar biasa dan menjadi tempat lahirnya penyair Arab yang terbesar, al-Mutanabbi, serta salah seorang ahli falsafah Islam yang terbesar, al-Farabi, seorang polimath yang juga pengarang The Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City, yang turut dikenali sebagai The Perfect State (al-Farabi 1985).

For instance, the independent Emirate of Aleppo, which encompassed most of northern Syria and parts of western al-Jazirah, was founded in 944 by the Hamdanid princes and became the seat of an independent emirate under Sayf al-Dawlah. It enjoyed a period of great prosperity and became home to the greatest Arab poet, al-Mutanabi, and one of the greatest philosophers of Islam, the polymath al-Farabi, the author of The Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City, also known as The Perfect State (al-Farabi 1985).

Warisan sejarah yang kaya ini bagi dawlah qutriyyah, yang padanan modennya ialah dawlah wataniyyah atau negara bangsa, merupakan salah satu faktor dalam kemunculan dan pembinaan nasionalisme dua peringkat, iaitu watani–qawmi, di dunia Arab dan di Palestin yang majoritinya beragama Islam pada awal abad ke-20.

This rich historical legacy of the dawlah qutriyyah, whose modern equivalent is the dawlah wataniyyah or national state, was a factor in the emergence and construction of a two-tier watani‒qawmi nationalism in the Arab world and in Muslim-majority Palestine in the early 20th century.

Hari ini dunia Arab terdiri daripada dua puluh satu negara, atau dawlah qutriyyah, tidak termasuk Palestin. Para ideolog nasionalis Arab sering berhujah bahawa kegagalan skim perpaduan Arab serta dominasi dan kekekalan al-dawlah al-qutriyyah di dunia Arab adalah terutamanya hasil warisan penjajahan. Tetapi hujah ini dikemukakan tanpa mengambil kira warisan sejarah kenegaraan di bawah Islam, keupayaan dan inisiatif peribumi Arab, tradisi tempatan dan serantau yang tersendiri, serta akar tempatan yang purba dan autonomi sejarah bagi banyak masyarakat Arab. Malah, sebagaimana akan kita lihat di bawah, penjajahan Eropah menghalang penubuhan dawlah qutriyyah di Palestin.

Today the Arab world consists of twenty-one states, or dual qutriyyah, excluding Palestine. Pan-Arab nationalist ideologues often argue that the failure of Arab unity schemes and the predominance and durability of al-dawlah al-qutriyyah in the Arab world are primarily the product of the colonial legacy. But this argument is made in disregard of the historical legacy of statehood under Islam, Arab indigenous agency, the distinct local and regional traditions and the ancient local roots and historical autonomy of many Arab societies. In fact, as we shall see below, European colonialism prevented the creation of a dawlah qutriyyah in Palestine.

Selain itu, nama-nama tempat Arab seperti Palestin/Filastin, Mesir, Syria, Libya, Iraq atau Yaman semuanya mempunyai akar sejarah yang mendalam dan purba serta legitimasi peribumi dalam menentukan identiti sendiri. Tambahan pula, daya usaha peribumi di sebalik kewujudan negara Palestin, iaitu Emiriah Dhaher al-ʿUmar, di Palestin abad ke-18, yang merupakan satu bentuk dawlah qutriyyah, adalah contoh yang jelas. Kebangkitan dan penyebaran semula nama-nama tempat purba seperti Palestin/Filastin pada era moden berpunca daripada penggunaan nama tersebut secara meluas dalam sejarah purba (bermula sejak Zaman Gangsa Akhir).

Moreover, Arabic toponyms such as Palestine/Filastin, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq or the Yemen all have deep and ancient historical roots and indigenous legitimacy of self-definition. Furthermore, the indigenous agency behind the creation of Palestinian statehood, the Emirate of Dhaher al-ʿUmar, in 18th century Palestine, which was a form of dawlah qutriyyah, is a case in point. The revival and spread of ancient toponyms such as Palestine/Filastin in the modern era was derived from the common use of the name in ancient history (from the Late Bronze Age onwards)

dan sepanjang Zaman Klasik, Kristian Byzantine dan Islam Zaman Pertengahan. Walaupun warisan penjajahan serta pengaruh idea-idea Eropah tentang 'negara-bangsa' menyumbang kepada kemunculan nasionalisme dua peringkat (watani‒qawmi) di dunia Arab, akar tempatan dan warisan sejarah rantau mesti menjadi sebahagian daripada gabungan faktor bagi kemunculan dan penguasaan dawlah qutriyyah di seluruh dunia Arab.

and throughout Classical Antiquity, Byzantine Christianity and Medieval Islam. Although the colonial legacy and influence of European ideas about the ‘nation-state’ contributed to the rise of a two-tier (watani‒qawmi) form of nationalism in the Arab world, local roots and regional historical legacies must be part of the mix of factors for the emergence and domination of the dawlah qutriyyah throughout the Arab world.