Day: October 6, 2023

The ancient Canaanite community mentioned in the Bible were a distinct population that migrated from the ‘Near East’ to the Southern Levant over several centuries, new DNA analysis reveals. 

Canaanites lived in the Southern Levant – which is now Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Lebanon – between 3,500 and 1,150 BC.

They lived in various townships and, previously, their genetic make-up and ancestry was not well understood.

But a new study has confirmed that they were genetically different to anyone else seen in the world. 

An international team of researchers has found they were descended from a combination of two main groups of people: Neolithic inhabitants of the Levant and populations related to Copper Age Iranians, specifically the region of the Zagros Mountains, and Bronze Age people from Caucasus.

Over hundreds of years, Canaanites migrated from the Ancient Near East – what is now modern Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – into the Southern Levant.

Modern-day inhabitants share much of this Canaanite DNA, as only at three points in the last 4,000 years has an external influence penetrated the gene pool. 

The three points were monumental in world history and are: the beginning of the Iron Age (1,000BC); the arrival of Alexander the Great (from 330BC); and the domination of the Ottoman Empire (1516AD). 

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A host of researchers from all around the world analysed the remains of 93 individuals who lived over 1,500 years, at nine different sites in the Levant. 

It revealed that the Canaanites do represent a clear group and, despite being from various locations, are closely related.  

‘The Canaanites, albeit living in different city-states, were culturally and genetically similar,’ says Liran Carmel of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The findings reveal that most of the Canaanites’ genetics was inherited from a mixture of local Neolithic populations and people from Copper-Age Iran and the Bronze Age Caucasus — modern-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. 

Dr Carmel adds: ‘In addition, this region has witnessed many later population movements, with people coming from the northeast, from the south, and from the northwest.

‘Individuals from all sites are highly genetically similar, albeit with subtle differences, showing that the archaeologically and historically defined “Canaanites” corresponds to a demographically coherent group.’ 

This, they say, is proof that the Southern Levant saw a gradual and continuous stream of migration from the Near East. 

‘The strength of the migration from the northeast of the Ancient Near East, and the fact that this migration continued for many centuries, may help to explain why rulers of city-states in Canaan in the Late Bronze Age carry non-Semitic, Hurrian names,’ says Shai Carmi of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

‘There were strong and active connections between these regions through movements of people that help to understand the shared elements of culture.’ 

When compared to modern inhabitants of the region, the scientists said 50 per cent of the ancestry of Canaanites comes from the Caucasus and the Zagros Mountains. 

An unknown proportion comes from the local Neolithic inhabitants of the Southern Levant and a smaller, but also unknown proportion from both Europe and Africa. 

It is unknown when African and European genes first made it into the genomes of modern-day inhabitants of the Levant.   

The Near East has been a tumultuous region over the last 4,000 years, with innumerable conflicts and invasions. 

However, 19 of the 93 skeletons used in the aforementioned research were also studied by a separate team of scientists. 

They found that, despite a range of almost 4,000 years, the ancestry of the skeletons was largely the same. 

In fact, the researchers say that only three events had a significant impact on the gene pool of modern-day Lebanese people.    

The Levant has been ruled by Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottomans in its extensive history, but the genes of modern-day residents of Beirut were 90 per cent similar to ancestors who lived around 4,000 years ago.

Even one of the most recent invaders, the Crusaders, have left barely a mark on the genetics of the Levant. 

Dr Marc Haber, first author from the University of Birmingham and previously from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: ‘We revealed a genetic history of the area across 4,000 years, with a time-point approximately every 500 years. 

‘This showed us that despite the huge cultural changes that were occurring during this period, there were only a few times that the genetics of the general population changed enough to affect the ordinary people.’

The first study was published in Cell Press and the second study is today available in the American Journal of Human Genetics. 

BAKU — Police in Baku briefly detained the leader of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (AXCP), Ali Karimli, before letting him go amid allegations he was trying to undermine public stability.

Opposition politician Tofiq Yaqublu told RFE/RL that police detained Karimli on June 28 as he was leaving an event in the capital to raise money to help activists in the former Soviet republic pay fines resulting from what they call bogus charges.

Police officials gave no explanation for Karimli’s detainment, but Yaqublu said the authorities were trying to disrupt the fundraising event organized at the headquarters of the opposition Musavat party. Critics of longtime President Ilham Aliyev’s government say authorities of the oil-rich South Caucasus nation frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing reporters, human-rights activists, and civil-society advocates without grounds. Dozens of AXCP members have been arrested, and some imprisoned, in recent years on what their supporters have called trumped-up charges.

Aliyev denies any rights abuses. He took power in 2003 shortly before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan since 1993.

Imprisoned Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize on October 6, said the honor only strengthens her resolve to fight oppression even if it means spending the rest of her life behind bars.

In bestowing the award at an announcement ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring the 51-year-old for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”

“I will never stop striving for the realization of democracy, freedom and equality,” she said in a statement released through The New York Times after the Nobel announcement.

“Standing alongside the brave mothers of Iran…I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny, and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women.”

The award was widely applauded by the international community, though it is likely to be derided by the government in Iran, where Mohammadi’s campaign for freedom of expression and women’s rights has prompted the Islamic regime to arrest her 13 times, convict her five times, and sentence her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.

Mohammadi is currently serving multiple sentences in Tehran’s Evin prison amounting to about 12 years’ imprisonment — she has not seen her family in more than eight years — on charges that include spreading propaganda against the state.

“Although the years of her absence can never be compensated for us, the reality is that the honor of recognizing Narges’s efforts for peace is a source of solace for our indescribable suffering,” a family statement said.

“For us, who know that the Nobel Peace Prize will aid her in achieving her goals, this day is a blessed day,” it added.

Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the 122-year-old prize and the second Iranian woman, after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won it in 2003.

“This prize means that the world is paying attention to the activities that is being done in Iran for the rights of women, the world sees how the establishment represses women,” Ebadi told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda after the announcement.

“As I have repeatedly said, democracy will enter Iran through the gate of women’s rights.”

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who announced the prize in Oslo, said it remains to be seen whether Mohammadi will be able to receive the award in Norway at a ceremony on December 10.

“If the Iranian authorities make the right decision, they will release her. So she can be present to receive this honor, which is what we primarily hope for,” Reiss-Andersen said.

The Nobel Committee said the 2023 prize also recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who “have demonstrated against Iran’s theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in making the announcement on October 6.

The anti-government protests in Iran were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.

The authorities responded to the unrest with a crackdown on demonstrations that has left hundreds dead.

More recently, 16-year-old high-school student Armita Garavand was reportedly assaulted by the city’s notorious morality police on the Tehran subway on October 1 for not wearing a head scarf.

A source at the Fajr Air Force Hospital, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said Garavand had suffered internal bleeding in the brain and was in critical condition.

Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the Nobel announcement “opens a window for the fight for democracy, for human rights, civil equality and it also makes Narges’s responsibility heavy and as she’s said, ‘Any prize makes me stronger for the human rights goals that I have.'”

“I think this is important, it’s not just a prize for Narges, it brings attention to the resistance that is ongoing in Iran for freedom, democracy, and civil equality,” he added.

First arrested 22 years ago, Mohammadi has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail over her unstinting campaigning for human rights in Iran. She has most recently been incarcerated since November 2021.

Still, the Nobel laureate has managed to remain an activist even while imprisoned, winning the 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Though she was behind bars for the anti-government protests over the past year that highlighted the Women, Life, Freedom movement triggered by Amini’s death, Mohammadi and fellow inmates staged a symbolic protest in the yard of Evin by burning their head scarves on the anniversary of the 22-year-old’s death.

From behind bars, Mohammadi still contributed an opinion piece for The New York Times in September where she called the dissent a testament to the resilience of protesters and the waning authority of the “theocratic authoritarian regime.”

“What the government may not understand is that the more of us they lock up, the stronger we become,” she wrote.

Last year, in a letter addressed to Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mohammadi described the “assault on women during arrest and in detention centers” as part of the Islamic republic’s “suppression program” against activist women.

Iranian authorities have yet to comment publicly on the award.

However, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said Mohammadi “received her prize from the Westerners” for “actions against Iran’s national security.” Teheran has repeatedly blamed the West for fueling the protests, without providing any evidence.

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by experts appointed by the Norwegian parliament, comes with an award of 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million).

Last year, the prize was awarded to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine amid harsh crackdowns by Minsk and Moscow on dissent and the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

This year the Norwegian Nobel Committee received 351 nominations — 259 for individuals and 92 for organizations. The full list is kept secret for 50 years.

With reporting by AP, AFP and Reuters

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič.

PM Pashinyan welcomed Lenarčič’s visit to Armenia in this difficult situation and said that international support is required, including financial support, to overcome the crisis resulting from the forced displacement of more than 100,000 Armenians as a result of Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. PM Pashinyan added that he had productive discussions with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Granada regarding needs assessment and further assistance.

Janez Lenarčič reiterated EU’s commitment to provide assistance to the government of Armenia and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to mitigate and overcome the current problems.

The Armenian Prime Minister and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management also discussed issues related to future partnership and actions.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the case concerning Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan) on Thursday 12 October, the court said in a press release.

The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Armenia on 28 September 2023.

Armenia filed a lawsuit against Azerbaijan with the International Court of Justice on September 28.

“The Republic of Armenia, referring to Article 41 of the Statute and Article 73 of the Rules of Court, submitted a request to the Court yesterday for the indication of provisional measures, “to preserve and protect rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (‘CERD’)”. Armenia requests the Court to indicate the following provisional measures, and to reaffirm Azerbaijan’s obligations,” ICJ said.

Yerevan urges the UN court to confirm Azerbaijan’s obligations on rejecting “any actions directly or indirectly aimed at or having the effect of displacing the remaining ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The claim says that “Azerbaijan shall refrain from taking any measures which might entail breaches of its obligations under the CERD.”

Yerevan expects that Baku “shall refrain from taking punitive actions against the current or former political representatives or military personnel of Nagorno-Karabakh” and “shall not alter or destroy any monument commemorating the 1915 Armenian genocide or any other monument or Armenian cultural artefact or site present in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will deliver a speech at the European Parliament during the plenary session on October 18, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola has said.

“I’ve invited the Armenian Prime Minsiter to deliver a speech at the plenary session. He will do so on October 18 in Strasbourg,” Metsola told reporters.

On October 5, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh.