End of Conflict? - James Hider

In a bustling fish restaurant in Jaffa, the ancient sea port just south of Tel Aviv, an Israeli Jewish man tries to convince the eatery's Arab owner that everything he has ever thought about his Palestinian heritage is wrong - that the conflict that has killed so many and which is claiming hundreds more right now in Gaza - has been nothing more than a tragic case of mistaken identity. Khamis Aboulafia, a well-known figure in the Israeli Arab community, listens politely as Tsvi Misinai, a retired computer expert and pioneer of Israel's IT sector, reveals the burning vision that has consumed him for years. He believes that the Palestinians with whom Israel is at war are, in fact, descendants of Jews who stayed on the land when the Roman legions sent most of their countrymen into exile 2,000 years ago.

When he hears that he may be a long-lost relation of a Jew, rather than of Arab stock, Aboulafia - an educated man who speaks Hebrew as fluently as Arabic - does not ask his guest to leave. Instead, he nods slowly. “Why am I willing to accept the idea?” he says. “Because all of the other ideas have fallen down.”

After a century-long struggle with guns and tanks, human bombs, soaring walls and settlements on remote,windswept hilltops, a small group of Jews and Arabs are now using an old theory and new genetic research to redefine - and, they hope, end - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the death toll from the latest round of carnage in the Gaza Strip topping 900 people, Misinai believes that his quixotic cause is more pressing than ever.

The theory was originally developed by David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister. But it has gained a new lease of life since a study into a rare blood disorder shared by Jews and Palestinians revealed a closer genetic match between the communities than between Palestinians and other Arabs. “It's all a tragic mistake, a tragic misunderstanding,” said Misinai, who divides his time between tracking down Palestinians who acknowledge their Jewish heritage, and lobbying ministers, ambassadors, religious leaders and activists in both communities.