A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal.
Gene Research Shows Jews
And Palestinians Almost Identical
By Robin McKie Science
Editor The Observer - London (11-25-01)
4-15-2
A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal.
Academics who have already received copies of Human Immunology have been urged to rip out the offending pages and throw them away.
Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma.
'I have authored several hundred scientific papers, some for Nature and Science, and this has never happened to me before,' said the article's lead author, Spanish geneticist Professor Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, of Complutense University in Madrid. 'I am stunned.'
British geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer added: 'If the journal didn't like the paper, they shouldn't have published it in the first place. Why wait until it has appeared before acting like this?'
The journal's editor, Nicole Sucio-Foca, of Columbia University, New York, claims the article provoked such a welter of complaints over its extreme political writing that she was forced to repudiate it. The article has been removed from Human Immunology's website, while letters have been written to libraries and universities throughout the world asking them to ignore or 'preferably to physically remove the relevant pages'. Arnaiz-Villena has been sacked from the journal's editorial board.
Dolly Tyan, president of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, which runs the journal, told subscribers that the society is 'offended and embarrassed'.
The paper, 'The Origin of Palestinians and their Genetic Relatedness with other Mediterranean Populations', involved studying genetic variations in immune system genes among people in the Middle East.
In common with earlier studies, the team found no data to support the idea that Jewish people were genetically distinct from other people in the region. In doing so, the team's research challenges claims that Jews are a special, chosen people and that Judaism can only be inherited.
Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East share a very similar gene pool and must be considered closely related and not genetically separate, the authors state. Rivalry between the two races is therefore based 'in cultural and religious, but not in genetic differences', they conclude.
But the journal, having accepted the paper earlier this year, now claims the article was politically biased and was written using 'inappropriate' remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its editor told the journal Nature last week that she was threatened by mass resignations from members if she did not retract the article.
Arnaiz-Villena says he has not seen a single one of the accusations made against him, despite being promised the opportunity to look at the letters sent to the journal.
He accepts he used terms in the article that laid him open to criticism. There is one reference to Jewish 'colonists' living in the Gaza strip, and another that refers to Palestinian people living in 'concentration' camps.
'Perhaps I should have used the words settlers instead of colonists, but really, what is the difference?' he said.
'And clearly, I should have said refugee, not concentration, camps, but given that I was referring to settlements outside of Israel - in Syria and Lebanon - that scarcely makes me anti-Jewish. References to the history of the region, the ones that are supposed to be politically offensive, were taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other text books.'
In the wake of the journal's actions, and claims of mass protests about the article, several scientists have now written to the society to support Arnaiz-Villena and to protest about their heavy-handedness.
One of them said: 'If Arnaiz-Villena had found evidence that Jewish people were genetically very special, instead of ordinary, you can be sure no one would have objected to the phrases he used in his article. This is a very sad business.'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,2763,605806,00.html
http://www.rense.com/general24/al.htm
And Palestinians Almost Identical
By Robin McKie Science
Editor The Observer - London (11-25-01)
4-15-2
A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal.
Academics who have already received copies of Human Immunology have been urged to rip out the offending pages and throw them away.
Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma.
'I have authored several hundred scientific papers, some for Nature and Science, and this has never happened to me before,' said the article's lead author, Spanish geneticist Professor Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, of Complutense University in Madrid. 'I am stunned.'
British geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer added: 'If the journal didn't like the paper, they shouldn't have published it in the first place. Why wait until it has appeared before acting like this?'
The journal's editor, Nicole Sucio-Foca, of Columbia University, New York, claims the article provoked such a welter of complaints over its extreme political writing that she was forced to repudiate it. The article has been removed from Human Immunology's website, while letters have been written to libraries and universities throughout the world asking them to ignore or 'preferably to physically remove the relevant pages'. Arnaiz-Villena has been sacked from the journal's editorial board.
Dolly Tyan, president of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, which runs the journal, told subscribers that the society is 'offended and embarrassed'.
The paper, 'The Origin of Palestinians and their Genetic Relatedness with other Mediterranean Populations', involved studying genetic variations in immune system genes among people in the Middle East.
In common with earlier studies, the team found no data to support the idea that Jewish people were genetically distinct from other people in the region. In doing so, the team's research challenges claims that Jews are a special, chosen people and that Judaism can only be inherited.
Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East share a very similar gene pool and must be considered closely related and not genetically separate, the authors state. Rivalry between the two races is therefore based 'in cultural and religious, but not in genetic differences', they conclude.
But the journal, having accepted the paper earlier this year, now claims the article was politically biased and was written using 'inappropriate' remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its editor told the journal Nature last week that she was threatened by mass resignations from members if she did not retract the article.
Arnaiz-Villena says he has not seen a single one of the accusations made against him, despite being promised the opportunity to look at the letters sent to the journal.
He accepts he used terms in the article that laid him open to criticism. There is one reference to Jewish 'colonists' living in the Gaza strip, and another that refers to Palestinian people living in 'concentration' camps.
'Perhaps I should have used the words settlers instead of colonists, but really, what is the difference?' he said.
'And clearly, I should have said refugee, not concentration, camps, but given that I was referring to settlements outside of Israel - in Syria and Lebanon - that scarcely makes me anti-Jewish. References to the history of the region, the ones that are supposed to be politically offensive, were taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other text books.'
In the wake of the journal's actions, and claims of mass protests about the article, several scientists have now written to the society to support Arnaiz-Villena and to protest about their heavy-handedness.
One of them said: 'If Arnaiz-Villena had found evidence that Jewish people were genetically very special, instead of ordinary, you can be sure no one would have objected to the phrases he used in his article. This is a very sad business.'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,2763,605806,00.html http://www.rense.com/general24/al.htm 
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Brilliant
28.09.2005 21:33
Duh...the rivalry between the giant squid and human beings is genetically based, and is neither religious nor cultural. I conclude.
Genetics and culture
The Internet
28.09.2005 23:12
sceptic
I concur
29.09.2005 00:50
About the cultural based conflict that is also bollocks. Any basic paper on nationalism and ethnicity (of course backed up with shitloads of evidence from all over the world) tells us that it is the percieved differences between different peoples that define their identiy as ethnicity x or y. In most cases x and y are actually very similar in custums, behaviour etc., but people just beleive that they are different.
The conflict in P/I is all about control over land and resources, the rest is just mystifications.
Khawaga
Hi Ex-Brit, Shana Tova my friend
29.09.2005 13:11
"2) muslims do not publish scientific journals in the West. Guess who does in most cases. "
Err - scientists - oh you mean Jews; goodness how terrible that many Jews have attained standards of academic and scientific excellence and have developed leading drugs to tackle many illnesses and scientific advances which have taken the world forward.
But you are wrong, Jews do not publish most scientific journals and you cannot provide proof that we do.
"scientific papers should be published NOT by journals, whose policies can be (and often are) horrifically racist. Instead, papers should be published on the Internet, where the Whole World has access, and can learn from the content. "
What a broad, sweeping and crass statement - where do you get this from + if anyone is horrifically racist it is you.
"at the end of the days the Israelis and their jewish supporters follow the self same tactics as the Nazis. The nazis also worked to eliminate science that interfered with their (racist) 'theories' of race. "
in israel there are 5 million israelis who are Jewish; the vast majority of the population, so stop with the distinction. It is a typical extreme left tactic to compare the victim with the offender. Israelis have done more, since 1948, for the science than any other country in the world. What you share with the Nazis though Twilight is an obsession with Jews and a belief that all we do is tainted with evil.
"Mass Media in the West is in the hands of some very, very wicked people, and while that situation is allowed to continue, outrages like this will be a daily occurence. "
I presume, Twilight my little conspiracy theorist, you mean Jews, so have the balls to say it.
We do not control the media, the economy, the political agenda, have horns on our heads, sacrifice children or worship the devil. Jewish people are good people Twilight; try talking to some and just clear your head of the Mein Kampf crap that is in there.
Now consider just a drop in the ocean of what israel has done:
The cell phone was developed by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola.
Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at IntelBoth the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel.
Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.
The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed by four young Israelis.
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from Silicon Valley).
Medicine
Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. 7,000 patients a year die from treatment mistakes in U.S. hospitals.
Israelis developed the first ingestible video camera (so small it fits inside a pill) used to view the small intestine from the inside.
Israeli researchers developed a device that helps the heart pump blood and has the potential to save the lives of those with heart failure.
Clear Light, a new acne treatment developed in Israel, produces a light that kills acne bacteria without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.
Education and Research
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.
On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.
Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people --as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
Innovation
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S.
An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale, solar-powered electricity generating plant.
Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70 in Japan. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
Thriving Democracy
Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon) at Risk in Ethiopia, to safety in Israel.
When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
Jewish and Proud
Per capita US HANDOUT?
29.09.2005 15:05
It almost makes you wonder where the money's coming from. That's an awful lot of oranges sold to fund that level of R&D.
Riff Rafah
That proves the Bible is correct
29.09.2005 15:34
Evangalist
what a palaver
29.09.2005 18:48
Now, this may sound insensitive.. but..
Is this that different from a study that disproved that there was any genetic difference between say, sudetenland germans and poles in 1939? Israel is illegally occupying the west bank, and, while it isn't explicitly racist in it's justification, what *is* it's justification? Zionism has no public sympathy. There is a certain anti arab/palestinian racism from which zionists *do* benefit!
I am sure there are many anti zionist israelis who would welcome this sort of study
militant athiest