Canaanism OTL was a political movement among Jews in the 1930s and 1940s that grew out of Revisionist Zionism. Essentially, it believed that Jews should abandon the Jewish religion (and encourage Palestinian Arabs to abandon Islam) and join together in a secular Hebrew / Canaanite identity:
Its members believed that much of the Middle East had been a Hebrew-speaking civilization in antiquity. Kuzar also says they hoped to revive this civilization, creating a "Hebrew" nation, disconnected from the Jewish past, which would embrace the Middle East's Arab population as well. They saw both "world Jewry and world Islam" as backward and medieval; Ron Kuzar writes that the movement "exhibited an interesting blend of militarism and power politics toward the Arabs as an organized community on the one hand and a welcoming acceptance of them as individuals to be redeemed from medieval darkness on the other.
Ultimately it was only a small movement within Levantine Jews that never went anywhere. But what if it had become the dominant philosophy among Zionists, instead of the moderately secular and mildly socialist Jewish-exclusive Ashkenazi-centered nationalism that 20th century Zionism was OTL?
Questions to answer:
1. Would the Palestinian Arabs be amenable to Canaanism?
If they reject it, that kind of takes the wind out of Canaanism's sails and we go back to OTL Zionism.
2. If they are, would the rest of the Arab world?
I don't really see how this would avert the rise of Arab antisemitism (given antisemitism's long history in the Muslim world,
especially in the modern era), but if it does then most Mashriqi Jews probably won't need to flee to Israel/Palestine.
The initial war against this Jewish state (and the neighboring Arab Muslims will certainly see a Canaanite country as a Jewish state, as I can expound on in a later comment) will probably happen. Jordan and Egypt can be clearly seen OTL as disinterested in establishing a Palestinian state, but instead desired to own the territory themselves.
But assuming that the new state wins the 1948 war: what then?
3. How would this impact relations between American and Israeli Jews?
To this, I have no idea.
And then, after the British Mandate expires and !Israel is established, what next? OTL American Cold War policy was, after 1967, to maintain separate Israeli and Arab pro-American pillars against Soviet influence. That clearly won't happen here.
What are your thoughts?