The Hebrews were not led on the shortest route to their homeland because G-d wanted the entire generation of adults who had been slaves to perish in the wilderness and, along with them, the attitude of being a slave. He brought the Hebrews out of Egypt relatively quickly, but the process of bringing the Egypt out of the Hebrews was a longer one. And, as pointed out elsewhere, the Arabs who claim to be "Palestinians" are not, in fact, descended from the ancient Philistines. Heck, until 1948 it was the Jews who were called "Palestinians."
As to Gaza: yes, it has always been a very troublesome area.
It is crazy that any Israeli or U.S. official would actually still believe, after all that they have uncovered, that Arafat and the PA/PLO were not terrorists.
The only difference between the PA and Hamas is one of tactics. The PA is a bit more subtle, whereas Hamas is more open about its goals - but the goals are identical (except about who will be in charge when all of the Jews are dead).