Journal axes gene research on Jews and Palestinians

[Guest guest]

Journal axes gene research on Jews and Palestinians

>

> Robin McKie, science editor

>

> Sunday November 25, 200: (<http://www.observer.co.uk>The Observer) 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 rs 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.