`` Palestinian '' was used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by the Arabs of Palestine in a limited way until World War I . The first demand for national independence of the Levant was issued by the Syrian-Palestinian Congress on 21 September 1921 .
The first widespread use of `` Palestinian '' as an endonym to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by the local Arabic-speaking population of Palestine began prior to the outbreak of World War I , and the first demand for national independence was issued by the Syrian-Palestinian Congress on 21 September 1921 .