Was Palestine ever seen as an official independent stat of sorts or was it always just an area called so with a group of people who had roots there, making up the indigenous Palestinian people? did the Ottomans or British ever acknowledge the existence of such a state or did it always exist under them, part of something else?

And what kind of claim do the modern day Israelis actually have over the land, that isn't religious? genetically speaking aren't the Jews that occupied Palestine actually of Arab origin thus the Palestinians would be closer related rather than the European Jews that currently occupy Palestine?