Journal axes gene research on Jews and Palestinians

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.'


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/nov/25/medicalscience.genetics?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038


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coffee

The whole "chosen people" thing sounds awfully familiar to the ideas a certain Adolf Hitler had with the Aryans.

Senor Penguin wrote:The whole "chosen people" thing sounds awfully familiar to the ideas a certain Adolf Hitler had with the Aryans.

By the time of your grandchildren there will be no peoples, just individuals and bots.

Yuri Yukuv wrote:

Senor Penguin wrote:The whole "chosen people" thing sounds awfully familiar to the ideas a certain Adolf Hitler had with the Aryans.

By the time of your grandchildren there will be no peoples, just individuals and bots.

What?

I am saying that every day these ideas we have made up of genetically, religiously, culturally distinct special people are always proven to be wrong at every turn.

Anyways in the context of middle eastern debates, doesnt this article also prove that jews belong to the region and are not of european stock as many arabs have claimed?

Yuri Yukuv wrote:I am saying that every day these ideas we have made up of genetically, religiously, culturally distinct special people are always proven to be wrong at every turn.

A scientific study shouldn't even be necessary in the first place to call "bullsh*t" on such nonsense but I hope that it'll make *some* people get a taste of reality. Even though I doubt it'll work for most ... They'll just stick a finger in each ear and go "lalalalala, can't hear you!" Obviously such people can't be faithful to reason in the first place if they actually believe they're genetically unique just because an ancient book said so.

Anyways in the context of middle eastern debates, doesnt this article also prove that jews belong to the region and are not of european stock as many arabs have claimed?

That's what I gathered from it too...

Yuri Yukuv wrote:in the context of middle eastern debates, doesnt this article also prove that jews belong to the region and are not of european stock as many arabs have claimed?

but it also disproves the fairy tale which they used to justify the establishment of their country

zizzle wrote:

Yuri Yukuv wrote:in the context of middle eastern debates, doesnt this article also prove that jews belong to the region and are not of european stock as many arabs have claimed?

but it also disproves the fairy tale which they used to justify the establishment of their country

Not really, it actually legitimizes the establishment of their country but its grossly disqualifies the apartheid there. The notion of palestinians as foreigners who took advantage of the jewish exile is thus broken, and as according to this research palestinians are probably jews who have changed religions (which should not in anyone's logic disqualify them from living there).

With this you guys have a good reason to get along. Now kiss, make up and procreate so I can watch more interesting things on the 9 o'clock news.

Here is a little motivation:

As a student who has had jobs in research and is currently co-authoring a paper...this revolts me. As one of the scientists said, if you don't like the content of the article, why publish it? In addition, I don't see what was wrong with the paper. If the method used to gather the data was scientific and rational, and the conclusions seem viable, then there is absolutely no reason to retract it. This researcher seems very experienced and he won't just make claims with some substantial evidence.

Sad to see political and religious restrictions on free speech seeping into the world of science and scientific journals.