DNA and Brit-Am

DNA

Can DNA really explain the ancient origins of populations? of individuals? Does DNA prove that the "Anglos" and related Western Peoples did not originate from Israel? What does DNA really tell us? How reliable is it? Are Palestinians related to Jews more than West Europeans are?


 Brit-Am 
Replies to Queries


rose


  Questions 
 and Answers 

For articles on related topics see:
Brit-Am DNA
THE PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLES
Queries about Race
mtDNA
Y DNA
Y DNA Reversed Was Adam R1b?
R1b The Western Japhet?? or not?
haplogroup I
DNA Refuted. The "Cohen Gene"
The Lost Ten Tribes and DNA.
BRIT-AM DNA.
DNA and Brit-Am Simplified.

DNA

Contents:
1. What Proof is there linking Brit-Am Western Peoples to the Middle East and Ancient Israel?
2. Are there reports of DNA studies where DNA Scientists themselves admit that their conclusions are uncertain?
3. What limitations do DNA tests have?
4. What Does Palestinian DNA Show US?
5. What Can DNA Studies in General Tell Us?
6. How Does Jewish DNA compare with British?
7. How would you summarize the Brit-Am reservations concerning DNA?
" To Death Do Us Part": Postscript to DNA and Environmental Influence
8. What is mtDNA and what can it tell us?
(a) General Introduction
(b) British mtDNA
(c) Jewish mtDNA
9. What is YDNA and what can it tell us?
10. What Can you tell us about the different DNA haplogroups?
11. What is the "Cohen Gene"?
12. If as Brit-Am states the Lost Ten Tribes went westward, is it (as is claimed) that Jews are more similar genetically to Palestinians than they are to West Europeans?

Q1. What DNA Proof is there linking Brit-Am Western Peoples to the Middle East and AncientIsrael?
Answer: We attribute DNA changes to geographic locations and that these changes become hereditary until the next change occurs.
We also emphasize that Biblical and related evidence is what we primarily rely on.
Nevertheless DNA studies may still be able to tell us something pertinent to Brit-Am beliefs.

Before continuing it is worthwhile summarizing Brit-Am Migratory paths:

1. Over the Sea: Phoenician and Philistine ships in Assyrian service took Israelite captives to Spain and probably also to the British isles and other areas of Western Europe. If they did not take them to Britain and the North at that time, then at the least they did take them to Spain and from there the Israelites later moved onwards.

2. Cimmerians: Israelites taken to the Northern Reaches of the Assyrian Empire intermixed with "Gomer" and moved westward at an early stage becoming dominant in "Celtic" civilization.

3. Scythians: These were the same as the "Cimmerians" but moved westward later and were predominant amongst "Germanic"-speaking peoples.

4. Scandinavians: Scandinavia received an influx of Israelites from the East "Scythian" area (Southern Russia and Central Asia) at a still later date from the previous movements.

5. Khazars: These were Remnants of Israelite descent who formed their own kingdom in Southern Russia and many of whom eventually converted to Judaism.

6. Evacuation from Germany: In the 1700s and 1800s most of those Israelites who had been trapped in Germany and other parts of Europe moved out to North America and related areas.

7. Jews.
(a) Judah
: The Jews were Israelites primarily from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi with representative minorities from the other tribes.
They were the one who never lost their identity and kept some degree of faithfulness to the Torah.

(b) Lost Jews: These are descendants from Judah who through choice or coercion lost their faith and sometimes knowledge of their origin. Their future is interwoven with that of the Lost Tribes.
Converts to Judaism were also frequently descended from Jews who had assimilated or from other Israelites.

Our studies concentrate on the majority and on dominant elements that can be traced as groups the exerted historical influences of their own. Apart from that we agree that individual bands from the Lost Tribes or from Judah may have reached many other places and that their descendants also will return.
The following suggestions below are based on popular reports of DNA findings. As the results of these findings are refined or refuted so too will our suggestions need adjusting.

Concerning DNA and Brit-Am findings we would divide our answer into three sections:

a. DNA Links to the Ancient Middle East.
b. DNA Links to (or Comparisons with) the Present-Day Jews and/or related groups.
c. DNA Indications of Migratory Paths as Proposed by Brit-Am Studies from non-DNA Sources..


a. DNA Links to the Ancient Middle East.

"Brit-Am Now"-156
"Brit-Am Now"-156: #Genetics-3
"Brit-Am Now"-196
item #2. Vikings from Lebanon and Israel or DNA research mistake?

"Brit-Am Now"-414
item #2. Middle East DNA of Vikings?
item #3. Question on DNA
item #4. DNA Scottish-English border people?
Links of British Borderland dwellers to the Middle East?

"Brit-Am Now"-197
item #4. Ancient DNA may be misleading scientists
Fifty per cent of Viking specimens initially traced to Middle east by "mistake". Later reports (see below) however claims that "mistakes" were unlikely.

"Brit-Am Now"-200
item #2. Corrections on, and addition to DNA articles

"Brit-Am Now"-493
item #7. Answer to DNA Objection
Links Celtic DNA originally to Middle East


b. DNA Links to (or Comparisons with) the Present-Day Jews and/or related groups.

"Brit-Am Now"-238
item #5. DNA: Eastern (Sephardic) Jews Amongst Western Europeans? (Very Interesting)
Finds "Sephardic" DNA haplotype in Western European cities at rates that by extrapolation suggest that elements from the same original stock were also native to the local Gentile populations.

"The Scotsman": One in five Scots has Blood Ties to ancient Iraq http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=51752005
About 20 percent of all Scots have Iraqi blood, according to a new book and television series examining the pre-history of what is now Scotland. The remaining four in five Scots are descended from bands of hunter-gatherers who came from England and northern Europe after the Ice Age. -These revelations purports to dispel the myth of the Scots as a mongrel race made up of Romans, Angles, Vikings, Normans, and other arrivals.

A documentary series Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History claims that the mythical land of Atlantis existed in what we now know as the North Sea, and that many Scots spoke Old Welsh before Gaelic. Alistair Moffat, the writer and producer of the series, expects that many people will be surprised by the findings. Mr. Moffat also noted that the original name "Scotland"  meant the Land of the Pirates.

New research into Scottish DNA by Professor Bryan Sykes of the Oxford Ancestors Project apparently backs the revelation that some Scots have an exotic set of Iraqi ancestors. Tracing the movement of early farmers in the centuries around 4000 BC, it showed them coming from Iraq and ultimately to prehistoric Scotland.



"Brit-Am Now"-230
item #4. DNA Findings.
Suggests Links between Jews and "English-Irish"

"Brit-Am Now"-564
item #7. Brit-Am versus DNA Findings?

Ashkenazi: 40% of male Y-chromosome are J and almost 30% E3b. The rest are .
R1a1 (12%) & Rlb (ca 5-12%).
You also have the Cohen marker (CMH a variety of J) which is found in ca 50% of Cohens and maybe ca 12% of other Jews.
The Jews are similar to Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians, and Turks indicating that they left the Middle East relatively recently.

1. J2: 27%
2. J1: 13%
3. R1a1:12%
4. E3b: 25-30%
5. G: 5-10%
6. Q: 5-10%
7. R1b: Less than 5% (Sephardi ca 12?)
8. I: Less than 5%, primarily Ilb

Britain is about 70% R1b (50 % of Celtic type and 20% Danish-Frisian), about 17% I (Scandinavian) and the rest mainly a mixture of R1a1(East European, Scandinavian) and J with some E and others.


The other "Israelite" nations are similar but the variations change, e.g. Norway has about 20% R1a and about 40% I.
Finland is anomalous with a large proportion of Q.

c. DNA Indications of Migratory Paths as Proposed by Brit-Am Studies from non-DNA Sources..

"Brit-Am Now"-428
item #7. Brit-Am Migrations and DNA

"Brit-Am Now"-434
item #5. DNA DIVISIONS IN THE BRITISH ISLES

"Brit-Am Now"-452
item #4. DNA confusion? Wales and Ireland
Article showing DNA links between Wales, Ireland, and Basque area of Spain.
Q2. Questions: Are there reports of DNA studies where DNA Scientists themselves admit that their conclusions are uncertain?
Answer: Yes. Consider the cases mentioned below. Brit-Am lacks the qualifications to judge such cases one way or another. We can do no more than quote the reports as they appear in the popular press.

"Brit-Am Now"-267
item #1. DNA confusion?
mtDNA (considered female transmitted) may be affected by recombination from the male side.

"Brit-Am Now"-422
item #2. DNA Changes After Death?

"Brit-Am Now"-498
item #5. Scientific DNA Reversal?

"Brit-Am Now"-593
item #3. DNA Findings: Brit-Am Claims of Hereditary Environmental Influence Verified?
"The epigenome can change according to an individual's environment, and is passed from generation to generation. It's part of the reason why "identical" twins can be so different, and it's also why not only the children but the grandchildren of women who suffered malnutrition during pregnancy are likely to weigh less at birth."

"Brit-Am Now"-622
item #7. Now Admitted: DNA Changes Cannot Be One-Time Events?? Cohen Modal Haplotype is considered a recent development yet it (along with similar phenomena) is found along different branchs of the J Haplogroup that divided before it developed. This means it must have developed simultaneously in indepednent cases before being transmitted by heredity, i.e. in origin it is not an hereditary phenomenon but an acquired one!

"Brit-Am Now"-645
item #2. Henry Rhea: Some Objections, The Importance of Truth, and DNA

Q3. What limitations do DNA tests have?

"Brit-Am Now"-254
item #3. Question on DNA findings

"Brit-Am Now"-272
item #3. Question on DNA and Attitude of Others

"Brit-Am Now"-327
item #3. DNA and racial movement

"Brit-Am Now"-328
item #1. More on DNA and environment

"Brit-Am Now"-399
item #3. Question on DNA

"Brit-Am Now"-464
item #3. Question on DNA

"Brit-Am Now"-550
item #1. Question on DNA and DNA Doctrine Refuted

"Brit-Am Now"-569
item #1. DNA-3
Letter from an independent source confirming Brit-Am reservations.

"Brit-Am Now"-571
item #5. Jeremy Birningham: DNA Not Yet Properly Understood

"Brit-Am Now"-575
item #1. Joan Griffith: DNA Irregularities

DNA
We are not against DNA findings. One of my sons took DNA test and the result showed a "North Irish" variety of R1b.
Nevertheless based on DNA reports we would make the following tentative observations:
(a. No-one has unique DNA, only unique or statistically rare combinations of DNA markers each one of which in itself is quite common.
http://britam.org/now/574Now.html
item: #Statistical Analogy

(b. DNA changes occur in some cases over very short periods of time.

(c. DNA changes can effect large numbers of people at one and the same time.
In some cases the changes may affect only those groups that already have a common genetic denominator.
Once the changes take place they become hereditary until the next changeover.
http://britam.org/now/622Now.html
item #7. Now Admitted: DNA Changes Cannot Be One-Time Events??

(d. All physical attributes are determined by DNA. The sections of DNA that are tested in studies of "racial" groupings are said to belong to "rubbish" DNA that is superfluous and has no influence on the function of the body or its appearance.
We are doubtful about this and suspect that all DNA has a function even if it is not yet known to us.
Our impression are that physical attributes are both inherited and subject to change under certain circumstances.
See
Race: Q.4. Can "Racial" Features be Acquired through Environmental Influence?

Since DNA determines physical attributes so the DNA must also change.
In effect we believe that ALL the DNA of a human being  is subject to the same principles.

It follows that DNA testing can help you find people who may well be closely related to you or  at least whose ancestors were in the same area as yours were all the way back to a certain time limit that may be thousands of years, or hundreds, or less.
DNA can also provide proof of migrations and connections between peoples in different areas.
Everything however has to be treated with some degree of reservation.
Some DNA findings look very convincing, even incontrovertible, and perhaps they are but other DNA findings though presented as such upon examination turn out to be problematic.

Some DNA findings at their present stage could be presented in such a way as to support basic Brit-Am claims while others seem to contradict us.
Even those findings that could be taken as support for Brit-Am we generally refrain from using since we prefer to wait and see what further research will reveal.

Q4. What Does Palestinian DNA Show US?

"Brit-Am Now"-515
item #2. Palestinian DNA?

5. Question: What Can DNA Studies in General Tell Us?
Answer:
(a) At the individual level:
DNA tests can tell a person to what overall group he may well belong or at the least in which geographical region his ancestors probably sojourned. In some cases DNA tests can connect a person to individuals with whom he may be related.

(b) At the general level:
DNA tests help divide human populations into groups the members of which may be related to each other or at least have shared a common area of residence in the past.

"Brit-Am Now"-547 item #4. DNA Research
A Mormon named James LeVoy Sorenson decides to copy all the DNA of Norway and discovers that he himself is descended from a Russian Jewish bookkeeper named Jakob Levinsohn

6. Question: How Does Jewish DNA compare with British?
Answer: For background and some facts see the sources and answers to Question 1 above especially 1(c), and then continuing rreading below.

Concerning Y (male transmitted) Chromosome Haplogroups:
Jewish DNA is something like:
1. J2: 27%
2. J1: 13%
3. R1a1:12%
4. E3b: 25-30%
5. G: 5-10%
6. Q: 5-10%
7. R1b: Less than 5% (Sephardi ca 12?)
8. I: Less than 5%, primarily Ilb

Britain is about 70% R1b and the rest mainly a mixture of R1a1 (East European, Scandinavian) and I1a (Scandinavian) with some J and E.

We say that the primary cause of DNA differentiation is geographic location.
Nevertheless what observations can we make on a practical level?
R1b is concentrated in Western Europe. It is especially predominat in Ireland and Wales and links up with Northwest Spain. This at least helps affirm the Brit-Am explanation of migratory paths from Spain to the British Isles.
What is more though now rare in the Middle East more varieties of R1b are found in the Middle East than elsewhere which is said to indicate that R1b had Middle East origins.
The "forefather" of R1b (and perhaps also of R1a) is a type now found amongst a Beduin population in Jordan by the Dead Sea shore. This type is also found in the Cameroons in Africa.
The R1a found in Britain is said to be mainly of "Norwegian" type that is related to that of Central Asia rather than that of Eastern Europe. This also coincides with Brit-Am migratory paths that posit a late migration of "Nephtalites" from Central Asia to Scandinavia especially to Norway. The Scandinavian R1a (similar to that of 12% of Ashkenazic Jews) is to a degree closer to that of Central Asia than to that of Eastern Europe.
The I (North European) haplogroup is frequently confused with J and G which are common amongst Jews.
The Q haplogroup (5 to 10 % in Jews) is common to North Asia and Amerindians but is not that different from R1b and often confused with it.
Jews and British are thus different but the differences according to the Brit-Am understandings do not contradict the possibility that they had a common origin.

All of the above pertains to the Y (male) chromosome. Studies of mtDNA (female transmitted) also reveal features worth examining more closely, e.g. Viking women originally from the Middle East? So too, 20 % Welsh and Irish women with mtDNA from the Middle East? Jewish women from Iraq the same as those from Scandinavia? etc.

Brit-Am is not proposing anything of its own on these matters. We merely keep track of what the "experts" themselves report.

DNA neither confirms nor contradicts Brit-Am beliefs though eventually the two fields of study may be able to draw together.
Note the following quotation from a DNA authority:
"Makes me wonder how many people out there are wandering around thinking they are P or R1* or R1b when they are Q, or Q when they are R1b, or I when they are G2 and so on (F,G,H, I and J are also problematic at times). "

Ethnic allocation of DNA is not yet an "exact" science.

"Brit-Am Now"-568
item #1. DNA-1
item #2. DNA-2
Criticism from a follower of DNA methods against the Brit-Am approach with an answer from Brit-Am.

"Brit-Am Now"-570
item #1. DNA-4
A recent examination of the mtDNA of Welsh and Irish women indicated that twenty per cent of them originated in the Middle East.
Q 7. How would you summarize Brit-Am reservations concerning DNA?
Answer: The reliability of DNA findings and a consideration of their applicability may be seen from the case of the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) and recent researches concerning it.
See the article:
DNA Refuted. The "Cohen Gene" .
"Brit-Am Now"-679
item #3. Brit-Am "take" on DNA Proven Through Cohen Gene.
additional information.

"To Death Do Us Part":
Postscript to DNA and Environmental Influence

DNA is now extracted from the remains of ancient bones etc.
The results tend to be controversial.
The relevant literature freely admits that DNA is liable to change and that Y (Male) DNA readings could be mistaken since the DNA now gives an alternate reading from the original one.
The argument is that in a living organism exists a protective mechanism that keeps the DNA as it is. After death this protection is liable to break down and allow changes to occur presumably due to environmental influence.

As a layman I would say that the onus SHOULD BE ON THE RESEARCHERS to prove that the "DNA status protection" can cease to function only after death.
Q8. What is mtDNA and what can it tell us?
Answer: MtDNA is that portion of DNA carried exclusively by the female (in theory) and through which migrations and interelationships of female populations may be traced. We have prepared a General Introduction on this subject.
The entry includes the following sub-headings:
(a) General Introduction
(b) British mtDNA
(c) Jewish mtDNA
We also have a note of importance concerning British mtDNA and what it may tell us concerning the different populations of Britain.
9. What is YDNA and what can it tell us?
Answer: YDNA refers to DNA on the male (Y) chromosome through which we may (theoretically) trace back each male ancestor.
A separate article gives some background information on this subject.
The entry discusses the worldwide divisions and distributions of the different Y DSNA haplogroups and their apparent interelationsips with each other.
Two separate entries on haplogroup R1b and haplogroup I give some more specific information concerning the distribution and subdivisions of these groups. See:
Y DNA
10. Question: What Can you tell us about the different DNA haplogroups?
Answer: In our articles on mtDNA and YDNA we briefly describe the major haplogroups.
Concerning YDNA we have (so far) separate articles on hg R1b, haplogroup I, and some material on haplogroup J in the article DNA Refuted. The "Cohen Gene"
Q11. What is the "Cohen Gene"?
Answer: The "Cohen Gene" is the Cohen Module Haplotype. Jews are divided by hereditry into Cohens, Levites, and Israelites. The CMH appears in about half the Cohens and amongst Jews could indicate Cohen ancestry. The CMH can also independently appear in other peoples with no familial relationship to the Jews. This and similar phenomenon indicate that all DNA "racial" Classifications are less than reliable as explained in our article on the subject, DNA Refuted. The "Cohen Gene" .
Q12. If as Brit-Am states the Lost Ten Tribes went westward, is it (as is claimed) that Jews are more similar genetically to Palestinians than they are to West Europeans?

From: Eric Schendel <ericschendel@earthlink.net>
THE LIFESTYLE DOCTOR

Subject: Questions re Y DNA

Yair,
 
Re:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/050900sci-genetics-jews.html
 
As you know, the above article asserts, on the basis of Y DNA studies, that European Jews are more closely related to Palestinians and other Arabs than to their "host populations."  I find this confusing and hope that you can clarify the following questions:
 
1)  If western Europeans are to a large extent descended from the lost 10 tribes, then they are related to the Jews through Jacob/Israel.  Assuming that the Palestinians and other Arabs are descended from Ishmael, then they are related to the Jews only through Abraham.  Therefore, why doesn't DNA evidence show that the Jews are more closely related to Europeans than to Palestinians?
 
2)  You have theorized (if I understood you correctly) that DNA can be modified by environmental factors and that therefore people who live in the same area may have similar DNA despite being unrelated.  If that is so, and explains the similarity between Jews and Arabs, why would not the same process have occurred between the diaspora Jews and their hosts (whether or not the hosts are the LTT)?  After all, they have lived together for 2000 to 2500 years.
Answer:
Eric, Shalom,
 Much of what we say in the following answer may be superfluous to you but others could appreciate it.
Brit-Am derives its belief from the Bible and Bible-related sources.
Nevertheless we also supplement our Biblical findings with secular studies such as history and archaeology and anything else that may be pertinent. This includes Genetics and DNA studies. Even though in principle we do not need confirmation from outside sources the truth is indivisible and anything that is true must therefore confirm our own truth.
We are also aware that though the final word has not been said concerning DNA we are operating in the world as we know it. We ourselves as well as those who support us would prefer to find support or at the least no contradiction between our Bible-derived conclusions and scientific ones in general. This is despite our full awareness that scientific research is an ongoing enterprise and the doctrine of today are liable to be obsolete tomorrow.
Your question may be divided into three:
A. The Article followed by your points (1) and (2).

Here is the Answer
:
A. The article does indicate that
"European Jews are more closely related to Palestinians and other Arabs than to their "host populations."
We suspect that this report was promoted partly due to ideological and political reasons.
The studies in question in fact show that Jewish DNA is closer to that of the Kurds and the Turks in Turkey than to that of the Palestinians.
The Kurds may be descended from the ancient populations of Media and Assyria.
The people of Turkey speak Turkish but they are mainly descended from the ancient inhabitants of that area who were therefore before being conquered by Turkish speaking nomads from Central Asia. These peoples were Ionians, Lydians, Phrygians, Togarmians, Hittites, Aramaians, Cilicians, and so on.
 
The Jews are therefore closer to descendants of Ancient Middle East populations than they are to the Palestinians who contain other newer elements from outside the Middle East.
 
This already could suggest a geographic explanation for the similarities rather than an ethnic one. (1) DNA evidence as understood at present does show a closer relationship between the Jews and the Palestinians than between the Jews and the population of Western Europe. 
This is not so much a one-on-one relationship however but more an aggregate comparison e.g. sixty per cent of that and twenty per cent of this.
Research is still going on and the possibility of a DNA connection between the Jews and the West does exist.
 
First of all we have to take account of possible DNA "bottlenecks".
It is claimed, for instance, that the majority of European Jews can be traced back to "four mothers" who lived only about a thousand years ago!
 
All DNA groups found in the west are also found amongst Jews and appear to have been amongst them from the beginning.
It is admitted that the original departure point of most of these groups was probably in the Middle East.
Numerous similarities between the DNA of the Jews and of Westerners exist and some of them have been indicated in our postings. These similarities mainly concern subsidiary phenomenon that nevertheless in the aggregate are significant.
e.g. "Brit-Am Now"-238
# 5. DNA: Eastern Jews Amongst Western Europeans? (Very Interesting).
 
Concerning the females all European mtDNA is not so different from that of the Jews in general terms. This does not prove anything but neither does it pose a problem.
The main Jewish Y (male) DNA group is probably J.  The most typical "Scandinavian" Y DNA group is I which in effect is a "twin-brother" to J.
 
The only problem as far as we understand is that of Y-male category R1b which is that of most "Westerners" especially those from "Celtic" areas.
On the one hand it is admitted that this group may have originated in the Middle East but other factors linked it to that of all Northern Peoples including Slavs and North Asians in the East and Amerindians in the west.
See:
R1b The Western Japhet?? or not?
I have seen an indication that the classification of R1b may yet be modified.
Changes in the marker that determines whether or not one haplogroup diverges from another may be induced by the environment.
At all events the "problem" of lack of correspondence between "Jewish" DNA and that of Westerners ONLY concerns a portion of the males (and not the females) and new research developments are liable to change the way we look at this matter any day now.
 
(2) Environmental Influence on DNA:
Changes in DNA may be likened to the throwing of switches that cause the swapping over of existing coded segments from one location to another.
This is not so much the introduction of something new but rather the putting into operation of an existing potential while shutting down a previously working process.

Environmental Influence could just as well be termed "locational influence".
DNA is "material inside the nucleus of cells that carries genetic information"
It is admitted nowadays by all that location or environment influences DNA.
DNA of people whose ancestors were in the Mediterranean Area is different from that of those who were further north. The same influences are apparently evident regardless of other factors: People with different ancestry will nevertheless show the same DNA characteristics if their ancestors were in the SAME AREA.
This phenomenon however is (or was) considered to apply only to autosomal DNA that is not sex-determined (see footnote).
Sex-determined DNA (Y-male chromosome or female mtDNA) is used to classify its bearers along ethnic lines. These classifications use "Junk" DNA. The advantage of "Junk DNA" is that it is considered to be superfluous and not play an active role in the functioning of its bearer. 
The problem is that "junk" DNA has now been discovered not to be "junk" at all but to play an active part in the functioning of its host organ.
The implications of this discovery have not yet been accounted for.
At all events environmental influence on DNA can no longer be discounted.
see:
"Brit-Am Now"-812
#1. Junk DNA in Y-chromosome control functions: scientists
#2. DNA : University of Iowa scientists explore function of 'junk DNA'
#3. DNA Implications: Brit-Am on the right track
 
You asked if it is true that environment influences DNA and if this,
 <<explains the similarity between Jews and Arabs, why would not the same process have occurred between the diaspora Jews and their hosts (whether or not the hosts are the LTT)?  After all, they have lived together for 2000 to 2500 years.>>
 
In the above discussion we have already in part shown how the Jews and West Europeans could have been of the same stock originally yet today show some DNA divergence..
We simply do not know enough to be certain that the Palestinian DNA really is closer and if it is whether we can draw the suggested implications.
Apart from that the following reservations should be registered:
 
a. Environmental Influence:  It is not certain if the said influence grows gradually by increment until reaching a threshold after which quantitative change becomes a qualitative difference. Alternately Changes may be effected by "Natural Trauma" such as sunflares etc, acting in a similar way to atomic radiation. These would make an effect on people in a certain area or a "susceptible" portion of them regardless of how long they had sojourned there previously.  If one section of Israel was in an "affected area" and the other was not then only the one section would undergo the consequent changes.
 
b. History:  The historical parallelism suggested in the later half of the question are are not accurate.
The Lost Ten tribes were exiled in ca. 720 BCE having been separate from Judah for some time before that. Since their Exile they remained separate and reached the West at a relatively early stage.
The Jews were exiled to Babylon in ca 580 BCE. Under Ezra some Jews returned but most remained in Babylon. The renewed Jewish settlement in Israel grew but was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE and again in ca 130 CE. Some of the Jews went West but others joined their brethren in Babylon. From Babylon (Mesopotamia) and its region the Jews moved northward into Southern Russia joining the Khazars. This created East European Jewry. In the West the Jews were in North Africa, Italy, France, Germany. Most of the Jews in Western Europe suffered from expulsions and persecutions and moved eastwards. Later from the East they returned in a westward direction but at a very late date. Jews were only re-admitted to England in the 1600s and a similar situation applied elsewhere.
The phenomenon of large numbers of Jews living among West Europeans is only fairly recent. It is true that throughout the Middle Ages Jews were often important and influential in Western Europe but their total numbers seem to have always been small. Your question though valid becomes a theoretical one.
The Jews of Judah were effectively separated from "Joseph" for more than 2500 years.
They lived mostly in separate geographical regions for more than 2000 years and have onl;y dwelt "alongside" of them on a large scale for about 400!  
 
Sources on DNA

"Brit-Am Now"-170
#1. Tay-Sachs genes, Jews, and Cajuns
"Brit-Am Now"-212
#4. Now in Science 18/2/2003: Ancient DNA may be misleading scientists
"Brit-Am Now"-238
#5. DNA: Eastern Jews Amongst Western Europeans? (Very Interesting)
"Brit-Am Now"-530
#5. Does Science Now Acknowledge the Possibility of Brit-Am Historical Correctness?
"Brit-Am Now"-537
#1. Brit-AM Claims Justified by New Studies: Changes in "ancient genetic patterns."
"Brit-Am Now"-503
#5. French Canadians, Jews, and Genetics
"Brit-Am Now"-567
#4. Aram Paquin: French-Acadian Israelites, Genetic Evidence?
"Brit-Am Now"-583
#3. DNA Findings: Brit-Am Claims of Hereditary Environmental Influence Verified?
"Brit-Am Now"-660
#1. DNA: Celts or Amerindians?
"Brit-Am Now"-666
#5. World Science: Your DNA may reveal your last name
"Brit-Am Now"-679
#3. Brit-Am "take" on DNA Proven Through Cohen Gene.
additional information.
"Brit-Am Now"-697
4. Nigerians linked to Northern Europeans?
"Brit-Am Now"-721
#2. DNA overview of nations
"Brit-Am Now"-723
#5. DNA Theory: The World Scene
"Brit-Am Now"-732
#1. Charlotte Mecklenburg: DNA similar to linguistics? "Brit-Am Now"-734
#4. DNA
"Brit-Am Now"-737
#2. DNA Theory Turned on its Head?
Brit-Am Proven Right Once More?
"Brit-Am Now"-738
#6. DNA Refuted? A Clarification
"Brit-Am Now"-746
#5. Blood tests and DNA tests "Brit-Am Now"-749
#1. DNA
(a) Ancient DNA of Denmark different from present?
(b) Normans not Norwegians?
"Brit-Am Now"-751
#2. Different North-South DNA cuts through DNA Haplogroups?
"Brit-Am Now"-752
#1. Can DNA testing Confirm Jewish Ancestry?
"Brit-Am Now"-753
#3. Question on Value of DNA Testing
(a) DNA Differences to be explained by Past Environment Influences
(b) Practical Applications
(c) Who performs the Tests?
(d) What can these tests tell you?
(e) Levites or Descendants of David.
#6. Another Opinion on DNA Testing
#7. Brit-Am Feature on DNA
"Brit-Am Now"-754
#3. Important new article! DNA Racial Classifications Refuted!
"Brit-Am Now"-755
#1. What Does the CMH ["Cohan Gene"] Really Tell Us?
#6. DNA Tests: Information
"Brit-Am Now"-756
#1. Dienekes Pontikos: "Lamarckism"?.
#4. Question on CMH and Jewish Ancestry
"Brit-Am Now"-759
#2. Another DNA Conundrum
"Brit-Am Now"-763
#3. Juan Alfredo: DNA Insights
"Brit-Am Now"-764
#3. DNA News: R1b from Ancient Israel??
"Brit-Am Now"-765
#1. DNA again: The Matriarchs
#2. Phoenicians in Wales? DNA
"Brit-Am Now"-769
#5. DNA and Nial of the Nine Hostages
"Brit-Am Now"-772
#2. Searching for a DNA Y marker for
"Brit-Am Now"-780
#2. Personal DNA: The U Neil Mystery (not O'Neils!)
"Brit-Am Now"-782
#3. William Adelman: (Important) Genetic Links Between Vikings and Jews
"Brit-Am Now"-784
#1. DNA Europe: Prehistoric Populations very different from present ones?
#2. DNA: Links between Ashkenazic Jews, Scandinavians, Shetland Scotts, and Amerindians?
#3. DNA: Personal
"Brit-Am Now"-798
#1. North West Irish Haplotype not so Irish?
#2. Question on The "Northwest Irish Haplotype" Example
"Brit-Am Now"-812
#1. Junk DNA in Y-chromosome control functions: scientists
#2. DNA : University of Iowa scientists explore function of 'junk DNA'
#3. DNA Implications: Brit-Am on the right track
"Brit-Am Now"-815
#1. DNA Differences between Ancient Europeans and Present Ones
"Brit-Am Now"-816
#1. DNA: Cimbrians in North Europe and North Italy?
"Brit-Am Now"-717
#4. Eric Schendel: Question on DNA, Environment, Palestinians, and Western Peoples
"Brit-Am Now"-821
#2. DNA: Popular Articles on DNA and Ethnic Ancestry
"Brit-Am Now"-822
#4. "To Death Do us Part": Postscript to DNA and Environmental Influence
"Brit-Am Now"-836
#2. DNA: Redheads in Early Britain
"Brit-Am Now"-837
#1. Rival site depicts Ancient Israelites
#2. Hebrew Pictures: More Pictures
"Brit-Am Now"-844
#6. DNA made Easier
#7. Middle Eastern Origin of West European Matriarchs?
"Brit-Am Now"-845
#2. DNA: R1b subclades now traced to Turkey?
"Brit-Am Now"-847
#5. DNA: Yorkshire clan linked to Africa
"Brit-Am Now"-856
#4. DNA Conundrum: Ashkenazi Jews-Irish-Brits
"Brit-Am Now"-868
#2. DNA and Migration History: Spain and Portugal
"Brit-Am Now"-870
#2. DNA. More on Lactose Tolerance
"Brit-Am Now"-871
#1. Lactose Tolerance and Gluten Intolerance may not be acceptable?
#4. DNA. John McEwan: Lactose Tolerance and Pastoralism
"Brit-Am Now"-872
#1. Question on Mongolian Hordes and Lactose Toleration
#2. Carol Hawke: Gluten Intolerance, Italy and Israel Different Tribal Life Styles and therefore Different Tolerances?
#9. Nancy in Arkansas: Food Tolerance and the Law
"Brit-Am Now"-873
#5. David Jackson: lactose Intolerance
"Brit-Am Now"-874
#1. Ruth: Pasteurization at fault?
"Brit-Am Now"-875
#1. Andy Reaume: On Lactose Tolerance
"Brit-Am Now"-890
#5. Are DNA Scientists Really "Closet" Creationists and the Reversal of Roles?
"Brit-Am Now"-903
#2. Question: What is "Junk" DNA? and the Brit-Am Understanding
"Brit-Am Now"-912
#2. Corrections to Note on DNA
"Brit-Am Now"-921
#4. DNA, Racial Connections, the Jews, and anti-Semitism
"Brit-Am Now"-924
#4. Recent DNA Research and Admixtures: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Scotland
"Brit-Am Now"-934
#4. Brit-Am DNA Under attack!
#5. Brit-Am DNA Article Vindicated!
"Brit-Am Now"-935
#5. DNA: Experts Affirm Brit-Am Understanding
"Brit-Am Now"-958
#4. Janice: Comments on DNA Findings and Brit-Am Reply
"Brit-Am Beliefs and the Importance of DNA"
#5. DNA: Early Anglo-Saxon Settlement and Hypothetical "Apartheid" in Britain


"Jerusalem News"-318
#3. DNA and environment
"Jerusalem News"-353
#3. DNA Unexpected Native American and Asian Admixtures?
"Jerusalem News"-359
#6. DNA Jewish Roots?
"Jerusalem News"-422
#1. Genes and Environment: Important New Evidence
"Jerusalem News"-469
#6. Etruscans: DNA Helps Resolve Historical Controversy
"Jerusalem News"-504
#1. Jewish Genetics: A Mixed Blessing?



footnote:
Concerning Hereditary Influence see Brit-Am Now Postings on DNA etc e.g.
"Brit-Am Now"-583
#3. DNA Findings: Brit-Am Claims of Hereditary Environmental Influence Verified?

Regarding differences connected with Geographical Determination (North-South) despite similarities otherwise of haplogroup etc, see:
"Brit-Am Now"-751
#2.  Different North-South DNA cuts through DNA Haplogroups?

"The article is about autosomal SNPs (SNPs on the 22 pairs of non-sex nuclear chromosomes), so yes, an R1b man and a J1 man from the south could have the same SNP on say chromosome 17. It could be inherited from any of their many ancestral lines." Ann Turner
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/genealogy-dna/2006-09/1159274263

Brit-Am Comment: The above answer in crude terms suggests that one day the DNA of someone in the north changed from that in the south or vice versa. The person whose DNA changed then spread their change via hereditry and the equivalent of marriage to people where they were so that this change became typical of the north or of the south as compared to those in the opposite direction. I suppose in theory this could have happened but it stretches the imagination and is opposed to what normally does happen.
Either people mix very little or if they do then the mixing takes place as much on a north-south gradient as an east-west one.
The simplest answer is usually the best and in this case a geographical environmental influence is the simplest.

rose



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