Et si les talibans étaient juifs?

Marie-France Calle, Namaste! Salam!, January 26, 2010 Les talibans sont peut-être juifs... Du moins d'origine juive. C'est - en raccourci - ce que tente de vérifier le gouvernement d'Israël. Le ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères a décidé de financer des recherches visant à établir pour de bon si oui ou non, les Pachtouns (ethnie dont sont issus les talibans) descendent bien de l'une des dix tribus perdues d'Israël. Et c'est en Inde que s'effectueront ces recherches. Pour une raison évidente : elles sont impossibles à mener en Afghanistan et au Pakistan.

On le sait depuis longtemps, les Pachtouns - ou Pathans - qui peuplent essentiellement le Sud et le Sud-est de l'Afghanistan et l'Ouest et le Nord-ouest du Pakistan seraient des descendants de l'une des tribus perdues d'Israël. Similitudes dans les rites, les vêtements, les traditions familiales, culinaires... tout porte à croire que les Pachtouns ont des ancêtres juifs. Ce que l'on sait moins, c'est qu'il existe en Inde plusieurs communautés pachtounes. Une aubaine pour les scientifiques qui tentent d'établir la véracité de l'origine israélite des Pachtouns. Ils peuvent travailler tranquillement au nord de l'Inde, à Lucknow, la capitale de l'Uttar Pradesh.

''Malihabad, un district de Lucknow, est le seul territoire pachtoun, ou pathan, sûr et facilement accessible à tous ceux qu'intéressent la probable origine israélite des Pathans. Il n'est certainement pas possible de récolter des échantillons ADN en Afghanistan ou dans les Zones tribales de la Province du Nord-ouest frontalière de l'Afghanistan (NWFP), où vivent la plupart des Pachtouns'', note à juste titre Navras Jaat Aafreedi, professeur à l'Université de Lucknow.

Et comme le relève le chercheur indien, lui-même d'origine pachtoune, sur son blog, ce serait un réel bond en avant si l'on pouvait déterminer de manière exacte l'ascendance juive des Pachtouns.

"Ne le dites pas aux talibans, mais leurs ancêtres sont peut-être bien juifs", ironise Simon McGregor-Wood le correspondant d'ABC News à Jérusalem. Une sombre ironie, poursuit-il, quand on sait la haine que vouent les talibans à Israël.

Le ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères a néanmoins décidé de financer les recherches d'une généticienne indienne, Shahnaz Ali, pour tirer l'affaire au clair, rapporte le Times of India.. Elle est accueillie à l'Institut Technion de Haifa, où elle devrait mener à biens ses travaux.

Qu'espère Israël avec une telle démarche ? "Réconcilier Juifs et Musulmans" ? comme le suugère sans vraiment y croire Navras Aafreedi. Wishful thinking...

Les Talibans sont-ils issus de l’une des tribus perdues?

lessakele.over-blog.fr, January 19, 2010

Le Times of India a indiqué la semaine dernière que le gouvernement israélien avait demandé à une généticienne indienne de rechercher un éventuel lien entre la tribu indo-européenne des Pathans et certaines tribus d’Israël.

La généticienne Shahnaz Ali a été priée d’étudier le rapport entre les Pathans Afridi qui vivent dans la région du Lucknow en Inde et les tribus d’Israël perdues qui furent exilées en Asie il y a des milliers d’années.

Ali travaille à Haïfa en collaboration avec l’université du Technion, où elle analyse génétiquement des échantillons de sang prélevés chez des Pathans Afridi de Malihabad pour vérifier leurs origines juives. Certains analystes pensent qu’Israël a décidé de financer une telle recherche, à cause de la théorie soutenant que les combattants pachtounes d’Afghanistan, dont sont issus la plupart des Talibans, sont des descendants des Pathans Afridi.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que l’on parle d’une origine juive des Pathans, mais le ministère des Affaires étrangères n’avait encore jamais décidé de financer ce genre de recherches.

Un scientifique pathan Dr Navras Jaat Aafreedi a déjà fait une étude génétique sur 1 500 de ses homologues et a trouvé quelque 650 membres porteurs d’un matériel génétique spécifique reconnu déjà parmi 40% des Juifs du monde. Aafreedi a déclaré dans une interview accordée au Times of India : « L’étude de Shahnaz sera importante si elle établit un lien génétique entre les Pathans et les Juifs.

On aurait alors une preuve scientifique de la croyance populaire de l’origine juive des Pathans. Cette étude a une implication importante sur les relations entre d’une part les Musulmans et d’autre part les Juifs en particulier et le monde en général. » Certains affirment que les Pathans sont des descendants de la tribu d’Ephraïm, exilée par les Assyriens en 721 avant l’ère commune. Certains descendants des dix tribus perdues se seraient installés en Inde entre 1202 et 1761 de l’ère commune.

Les Pathans Afridi de Malihabad pourraient faire partie de ces tribus. « Malihabad dans le district du Lucknow est le seul territoire où se trouvent des Pathans – ou Pachtouns – qui est accessible à ceux qui veulent vérifier les origines juives de ces derniers.

Il est bien sûr impossible de prélever des échantillons d’ADN en Afghanistan ou au Pakistan, où la plupart des Pathans vivent », explique Aafreedi. Il reste en fait peu de Pathans en Inde, essentiellement à Malihabad et à Qayamganj en Farrukhabad, lesquels ont déjà été étudiés par Aafreedi. Mais, les Pathans Afridi d’Inde, s’ils se réclament d’origine juive, sont tout aussi hostile à l’égard d’Israël que les Musulmans de n’importe où ailleurs.

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The 2,700 year old Pashtun link to Israel

The Dawn, 18 January, 2010 

A genetic study to investigate a connection between the lost tribes of Israel and the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan will be funded by Israel, according to a report in The Observer. Israeli anthropologists have claimed that the Pashtuns may be one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel in light of longstanding historical and anecdotal evidence. No scientific proof has ever been able to demonstrate a conclusive link. However, an Indian researcher based at the National Institute of Immuno-haemotology in Mumbai will now spend time at a leading Israeli institute, Technion to study the findings of her research. Shahnaz Ali collected the blood-samples from members of the Pashtun Afridi tribe living near Lucknow, India. Previous research in a similar area failed to determine a link either way. According to the report, 10 of the original 12 tribes of Israel were pushed into exile 2,730 years ago when the Assyrians conquered the kingdom of Israel. Modern-day Jews belong to the two remaining tribes of Benjamin and Judah, according to Jewish history. Ever since, speculation has centered on the exact whereabouts of the lost tribes. Claims of their traces in China, Burma, Nigeria and Central Asia have been offered in the past. It is believed that the tribes settled in areas around latter-day Northern Iraq and Afghanistan therefore making the Pashtun link the most compelling. Navras Aafreedi, an academic at Lucknow University said, "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists." However, Ali remains cautious. "The theory has been a matter of curiosity since long ago, and now I hope a scientific analysis will provide us with some answers about the Israelite origin of Afridi Pathans. We still don't know what the truth is, but efforts will certainly give us direction," she told The Times of India last year.

Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel

Genetic study sets out to uncover if there is a 2,700-year-old link to Afghanistan and Pakistan Rory McCarthy, Jerusalem The Guardian, Sunday 17 January 2010 Israel is to fund a rare genetic study to determine whether there is a link between the lost tribes of Israel and the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Historical and anecdotal evidence strongly suggest a connection, but definitive scientific proof has never been found. Some leading Israeli anthropologists believe that, of all the many groups in the world who claim a connection to the 10 lost tribes, the Pashtuns, or Pathans, have the most compelling case. Paradoxically it is from the Pashtuns that the ultra-conservative Islamic Taliban movement in Afghanistan emerged. Pashtuns themselves sometimes talk of their Israelite connection, but show few signs of sympathy with, or any wish to migrate to, the modern Israeli state. Now an Indian researcher has collected blood samples from members of the Afridi tribe of Pashtuns who today live in Malihabad, near Lucknow, in northern India. Shahnaz Ali, from the National Institute of Immunohaematology in Mumbai, is to spend several months studying her findings at Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa. A previous genetic study in the same area did not provide proof one way or the other. The Assyrians conquered the kingdom of Israel some 2,730 years ago, scattering 10 of the 12 tribes into exile, supposedly beyond the mythical Sambation river. The two remaining tribes, Benjamin and Judah, became the modern-day Jewish people, according to Jewish history, and the search for the lost tribes has continued ever since. Some have claimed to have found traces of them in modern China, Burma, Nigeria, Central Asia, Ethiopia and even in the West. But it is believed that the tribes were dispersed in an area around modern-day northern Iraq and Afghanistan, which makes the Pashtun connection the strogest. "Of all the groups, there is convincing evidence about the Pathans than anybody else, but the Pathans are the ones who reject Israel most ferociously. That is the sweet irony," said Shalva Weil, an anthropologist and senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Pashtuns have a proud oral history that talks of descending from the Israelites. Their tribal groupings have similar names, including Yusufzai, which means sons of Joseph; and Afridi, thought by some to come from Ephraim. Some customs and practices are said to be similar to Jewish traditions: lighting candles on the sabbath, refraining from eating certain foods, using a canopy during a wedding ceremony and some similarities in garments. Weil cautioned, however, that this is not proof of any genetic connection. DNA might be able to determine which area of the world the Pashtuns originated from, but it is not at all certain that it could identify a specific link to the Jewish people. So far Shahnaz Ali has been cautious. "The theory has been a matter of curiosity since long ago, and now I hope a scientific analysis will provide us with some answers about the Israelite origin of Afridi Pathans. We still don't know what the truth is, but efforts will certainly give us direction," she told the Times of India last year. Some are more certain, among them Navras Aafreedi, an academic at Lucknow University, himself a Pashtun from the Afridi tribe. His family traces their roots back to Pathans from the Khyber Agency of what is today north-west Pakistan, but he believes they stretch back further to the tribe of Ephraim. "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century till the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists. ," Aafreedi said. The implications of any find are uncertain. Other groups that claim Israelite descent, including those known as the Bnei Menashe in India and some in Ethiopia, have migrated to Israel. That is unlikely with the Pashtuns. But Weil said the work was absorbing, well beyond questions of immigration. "I find a myth that has been so persistent for so long, for 2,000 years, really fascinating," she said.

ISRAEL BUSCA UNA DE SUS TRIBUS PERDIDAS EN AFGANISTÁN

RT.com, 15 de enero 2010

Una genetista india recibió una subvención del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Israel para investigar si el pueblo de los pastunes, el principal grupo étnico de Afganistán, tiene raíces hebreas.

Pero la científica Shahnaz Ali no tendrá que desplazarse al peligroso suelo afgano donde son frecuentes los ataques de los talibanes, que son pastunes en su mayoría. Tampoco irá al noroeste de Pakistán. Trabajará en Haifa con sus colegas israelíes estudiando el ADN de las muestras de sangre de los pastunes de estirpe afridi, que habitan el distrito de Lucknow en el norte de la India. Es el único lugar donde se pueden obtener las muestras sin arriesgar la vida.

El noroeste de Pakistán, otra región que cuenta con una población extensa de pastunes -y campamentos de talibanes-, tampoco sirve para los estudios científicos, y mucho menos realizados bajo el patrocinio hebreo.

El estudio tiene el próposito de confirmar la hipótesis de que los pastunes son descendientes de la tribu israelita de Efraím, una de las diez que fueron expulsadas de sus tierras por los invasores asirios en el norte de Israel, en el siglo VIII a.C., y se asentaron en la India unos centenares de años más tarde.

Otro científico indio, Navras Aafreedi, uno de los principales partidarios de la teoría, comentó que la investigación puede tener unas “ramificaciones interesantes para las relaciones entre los musulmanes y los judíos, así como para el resto del mundo”. Matizó que, aunque los afridi se consideran de origen israelí, son igual de hostiles hacia Israel que los otros musulmanes. Eso parece una paradoja, pero el caso es que el antiguo reino de Israel en el norte tenía enemistad con el reino de Judá en el sur, del que se originó el gentilicio judío.

Pastunii, principalul grup taliban, ar putea fi descendenti ai evreilor

de A.N. HotNews.ro, Miercuri, 13 ianuarie 2010

Pastunii, grupul etnic care formeaza nucleul talibanilor din Afganistan si Pakistan, ar putea fi descendenti ai dusmanilor lor evrei, sustin cercetatori indieni, citati de ziarul britanic Telegraph. Experti de la Institutul National de Imuno-hematologie din Mumbai au declarat ca grupul pastunilor ar putea fi unul dintre cele zece "Triburi disparute ale Israelului". Guvernul israelian finanteaza in prezent un studiu genetic care sa stabileasca daca exista o dovada a legaturii intre pastuni si evrei. Un genetician indian a recoltat probe de sange de la tribul de pastuni Afridi din Lucknow, in nordul Indiei. Probele au fost recoltate din aceasta regiune deoarece a fost considerata singura unde se poate face, in siguranta, un proiect atat de controversat pentru musulmani. Shanaz Ali urmeaza sa-si petreaca urmatoarele 12 luni la Institutul de Tehnologie Technion din Tel Aviv, unde va compara probele de sange cu cele ale evreilor israelieni. Navras Aafreedi, un cercetator al "Triburilor disparute ale Israelului", a declarat ca studiul ar putea avea "repercusiuni moderne majore" precum si "ramificatii interesante pentru relatiile dintre musulmani si evrei in particular, dar si in plan global". Telegraph precizeaza ca in lume traiesc in prezent circa 42 de milioane de pastuni, din care 14 milioane se afla in Afganistan si peste 28 de milioane in Pakistan. Multi dintre pastuni au crescut auzind povesti despre neamul lor ca fiind "Copiii lui Israel". Potrivit legendei, ei sunt urmasi din tribul Efraim, care a fost alungat din Israel de invazia asirienilor, in jur de 700 i.Cr. In Herat, la granita dintre Afganistan si Iran, au fost descoperite morminte insciptionate in ebraica, dovada a existentei unor vechi asezari evreiesti in zona. In plus, in Kabul exista o sinagoga veche de cateva secole, care acum este abandonata.

Taliban may be descended from Jews

The ethnic group at the heart of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan may have descended from their Jewish enemy, according to researchers in India. By Dean Nelson, Telegraph, 11 January, 2010 Experts at Mumbai's National Institute of Immeunohaematology believe Pashtuns could be one of the ten "Lost Tribes of Israel". The Israeli government is funding a genetic study to establish if there is any proof of the link. An Indian geneticist has taken blood samples from the Pashtun Afridi tribe in Lucknow, Northern India, to Israel, where she will spend the next 12 months comparing DNA with samples with those of Israeli Jews. The samples were taken in Lucknow's Malihabad area because it was regarded as the only place safe enough to conduct such a controversial project for Muslims. Shahnaz Ali, a senior research fellow, will lead the study at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Tel Aviv. There are an estimated 40 million Pashtuns around the world, including more than 14 million in Afghanistan and 28 million in Pakistan, mainly in the North West Frontier Province and Tribal areas, but also with a strong presence in Karachi. Many have grown up with stories of their people being "Children of Israel". According to legend, they are descended from the Ephraim tribe which was driven out of Israel by the Assyrian invasion in around 700 BC. Evidence of ancient Jewish settlement has been found in Herat, close to afghanistan's border with Iran, where a graveyard contains tombs inscribed in Hebrew. The Afghan capital Kabul also has centuries-old synagogue which has long been abandoned. Navras Aafreedi, a leading researcher on the Lost Tribes of Israel, said the DNA investigation could have major repercussions. "It could be seen as scientific validation of traditional belief about the Israelite origin of [Pashtuns] and can have interesting ramifications for Muslim-Jew relations in particular and the world at large," he said.