Quote:
Let's not forget that the Palestinians are the Philistines of biblical lore.
As much as I think your point is irrelevant:
The Origin of Palestinians and Their
Genetic Relatedness With Other
Mediterranean Populations
Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, Nagah Elaiwa, Carlos Silvera,
Ahmed Rostom, Juan Moscoso,
Eduardo Gómez-Casado, Luis Allende, Pilar Varela,
and Jorge Martínez-Laso
ABSTRACT: The genetic profile of Palestinians has, for
the first time, been studied by using human leukocyte
antigen (HLA) gene variability and haplotypes. The comparison
with other Mediterranean populations by using
neighbor-joining dendrograms and correspondence
analyses reveal that Palestinians are genetically very close
to Jews and other Middle East populations, including Turks
(Anatolians), Lebanese, Egyptians, Armenians and
Iranians. Archaeologic and genetic data support that both
Jews and Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites,
who extensively mixed with Egyptians, Mesopotamian and
Anatolian peoples in ancient times. Thus, Palestinian-
Jewish rivalry is based in cultural and religious, but not in
genetic, differences. The relatively close relatedness of both
Jews and Palestinians to western Mediterranean
populations reflects the continuous circum-Mediterranean
cultural and gene flow that have occurred in prehistoric
and historic times.
This flow overtly contradicts the demic
diffusion model of western Mediterranean populations
substitution by agriculturalists coming from the Middle
East in the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. Human
Immunology 62, 889-900 (2001). ã American Society
for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001.
Published by Elsevier Sciece Inc.
KEYWORDS: Palestinians; Macedonians; Greeks;
Mediterraneans; Berbers; Moroccans; Albanians; Turks;
Iranians; Egyptians; Jews; Lebanese.