Quote:
Originally Posted by _Q_
Guess who is 100% Levantine?
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Genetic studies show a strong relationship between people of different religions. Muslims in the area, including Palestinians, share a lot of their DNA with groups from Arabia. Many Palestinians even trace their lineage directly back to various Arabian tribes. Additionally, prior to 1948, there were no hard borders and people moved freely around the Ottoman Empire. The definition of Palestinian only requires someone to have lived in the British Mandate of Palestine for 2 years to be considered a "Palestinian".
Once again, the idea of people changing religions is a new concept. Inter-marriage was extremely rare until recently. So you largely had Muslims marrying other Muslims and Jews marrying other Jews. This led to Muslims in the area having lots of ancestry from the dominant Muslim groups, who were from Arabia. Hence the genetic map above, which shows a large degree of cross-over between Palestinians and Arabian groups.
Palestinians do have Levantine history, but that varies from person to person. They weren't a homogenous group and essentially all non-Jews in the area got defined as Palestinians in 1948. The Palestinians are certainly not 100% Levantine, with some having arrived as migrant workers immediately before 1948.
The only group that likely has 100% Levantine origin are the Samaritans.