A few thoughts about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The theory by Arnaiz-Villena et al about the common origin of Jews and Palestinians became the centre of a great controversy. Not surprisingly, as it comes to the conclusion that the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is hard-coded into DNA, and specifically the HLA-DRB1 gene.
Suppose that, for just one moment, we decide to disregard the lack of scientific evidence behind the aforementioned theory. Let’s just pretend that further studies have confirmed the results of Arnaiz-Villena’s genetic analysis. Let’s also convince ourselves that the HLA-DRB1 locus can truly affect modern Palestinians and Jews in such a way that the strife over the ancient Canaanite land is an inherited trait…
Now what? What could the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians expect? The conflict would only go on perpetually, as the children of Palestine and Israel would be born with a curse, their common HLA-DRB1 alleles.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been there for generations. It’s definitely one of the saddest and darkest pages in human history, an open wound that afflicts the whole global community. However, even during the worst phases of the conflict that make everyone pessimistic, it’s quite comforting that things are not the way Arnaiz-Villena describes them.
A lot of hope has been invested in that the most reasonable voices from both sides will prevail, and that we will eventually witness a successful political compromise that will enable Israelis and Palestinians live together peacefully. As the reasons behind the conflict are political, not genetic, there’s still reason to hope.
