AFAIK (and if I’m wrong I will be gladly corrected), in the ME it is common for first cousins to marry.
That might explain the inbreeding.
If it’s culturally or socially accepted, and marriages have traditionally been mainly to cement families and tribal alliances, then all other considerations go by the wayside.
“
AFAIK (and if I’m wrong I will be gladly corrected), in the ME it is
common for first cousins to marry.
“
I don’t know the specifics of that.
It would be an understanable practice as (IIRC) that practice was
fairly common in parts of England/Wales during the days when
1. people never traveled much more than a couple of miles from their village
AND
2. the marriage “within the family” was a strategy of retaining wealth
within the family/clan.
An unforgiving place like the arid/semi-arid landscape of the Middle East
is even worse than the areas of England/Wales with limited resources for
the average Joe/Josephine.
Being from Oklahoma, I’ve learned to laugh along with jokes about inbreeding.
Because they aren’t totally disconnected from reality.