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Stupidity Squared

Reader comment on item: [UNRWA:] The Refugee Curse
in response to reader comment: The Palestinians are refugees from an ancient homeland to which they will always earn to return.

Submitted by Rachamim Dwek (Canada), Jul 22, 2013 at 11:42

First, genetics does not determine indigenous status, culture does. Let us assume that the author is correct in his assertions, that Palestinians are Jews who assimilated amongst waves of conquering people. Having assumed the culture of the invader they have negated their indigenous status and are no more entitled to the land than a Japanese or Sioux would be. Secondly, the author should consult a geneticist because he grossly misinterpreted just about every paper cited. In the last 20 years there have been a grand total of 4 papers supporting the author's contention- one of which was rescinded post-publication for being worthless propaganda. On the other hand, there have been well over 700 peer reviewed papers in that same time period which show that all but Ethiopian Jewry and 2 of the 4 Jewish groups in India are all inter-related and rooted in Roman Era Judaea. They also show that Palestinians, except for a single digit percentile, directly descend from a number of Arab populations with no connection to the Jewish people. Interestingly, 2 of the 3 remaining papers that support the author's contention all involved Palestinians (only) recruited from Hebron District, the only area in the Levant in which Arabs are in fact directly descended from Jews who assimilated. Removing those two we are left with just a single paper versus several hundred. Palestinians did not exist until 1964. Until then, they self-identified only as "Southern Syrians." Imagining then that this newly formed people, who exist within the cultural milieu of the invader and conqueror, should somehow be awarded control over land is preposterous. How much more so when 21 Arab nations already exist?

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Reader comments (70) on this item

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