All fair points Teribus, and I concur with your analysis here. The Jordanians for example have never been much help to Palestinians from what I can see and I agree also that the areas annexed by Egypt and Jordan were not going to be handed over to the palestinians who lived there for an independent nation either.

I think it was Robert Fisk who said trying to get a handle on the history of the region is like trying to ride two bicycles at once. I have just finished reading a rather well written book by a guy called Efraim Karsh, detailing the 1948 war and events that led up to it. As is usually the case when I read something on the region I first have to read it, then analyze it for bias. As it happens this particular book leans a lot in the favour of Israel. For example the chronology lists attacks by Arabs on Jews but doesn't mention the dynamiting by Irgun of the King David Hotel in 1946, and there are other issues with the phrasing of things and choice of vocabulary.

It's very difficult to find any balanced writing on the region, some of the propaganda from the Arab side is laughably transparent.