20 Friday, December 26, 1980
Druze Paratrooper Moves Up Through IDF Ranks
The
SHEL ROTT
ORCHESTRA
Featuring
T.V. & Recording Artist
VICKIE CARROLL -
"Protossional Entortalnmwt
354-0770
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
354-0111
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — Amel is a
deputy commander of an Is-
rael paratrooper unit. He is
a 25-year-old Druze, born in
the Druze village of Us-
sufia. He is dark, has black
hair and a stout figure.
Amel is the first Druze serv-
ing in a paratroOper unit to
reach such a high rank.
Amel feels at home in his
unit, with soldiers guarding
the border. He stays more
and more in the unit, also on
weekends and holidays and
does not go home to his vil-
lage. "I found new friends in
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the unit," he told us. "My
style of life has changed and
has become more complex
and complicated. In my vil-
lage I was educated and
raised in another way, ac-
cording to our tradition.
Now I am in a place where
everything is different."
When Amel joined the
army in 1973 he volun-
teered for the paratroopers.
"The soldiers with the red
berets were in my eyes the
best of the people," he says.
"I longed for an adventur-
ous service."
Amel's family agreed.
His father is working in
Haifa. Amel attended the
elementary school in Us-
sufia and afterwards a
high school in Haifa with
his 10 brothers and sis-
ters. Two brothers also
serve in the Paratrooper
Corps. One is a recruit
and the other one a cor-
poral.
In the first days the mili-
tary was difficult for him.
But slowly the walls be-
tween Amel and his Jewish
fellow-soldiers came down.
He became one of the group.
' In the Yom Kippur War
he took part in fighting
Egyptian commandos in
Abu Rhodies and near the
Suez Canal, where he was
wounded. "It was difficult
and frightening," Amel
says, "We overcame. I was
never sorry that I joined the
paratroopers."
Afterwards Amel was
sent to an officers course,.
which he finished suc
cessfully. He returned to his
unit and advanced in rank
until he became deputy
commander of the battalion.
"I did not feel any difference
being a Druze," he
says. "Many times even the
soldiers did not know that I
am one. They asked me from
where I was and were sur-
prised."
As commander, he took
part in fighting across the
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border. In the Litani Opera-
tion he commanded a unit
and fought in the eastern
sector of South Lebanon.
"I never felt any dif-
ference from a Jewish
unit commander," Amel
said. "But sometimes, if
guests come, I can feel
that they are looking at
me with curiosity. I can
understand this. They
most probably say: 'This
is a Druze officer.' Then I
am proud. I remember
my village and my home
and I feel myself even
more Druze than I am. I
know that I bestow honor
on my people."
"When I joined the army,
I did it because of a feeling of
duty, but not because of pa-
triotism," Amel told us. "I
wanted to prove myself as
good as others. But after-
wards patriotism started to
play a bigger role. It is not
being a Zionist. The parat-
roopers taught me to be
what I am today: they
taught me to give, to wish to
give, to volunteer for all op-
erations, to do for others, for
friends, without getting any
prize. I do not call this
Zionism. A Druze cannot be
a Zionist. I call it to be a
good citizen." •
We asked Amel what
would happen if one day he
had to fight a Syrian Druze
from the opposite side of the
border. "The Druze always
supported those who helped
them," Amel answered.
"The Jews always showed
willingness to help us. I
shall have no problem
whatsoever to fight for my
friends among the parat-
roopers, for my country.
Here I was born and here I
am living. I shall fight for
Israel, wherever I shall be
asked to."
We asked Amel what Is-
rael had given him. And he
answered, "Israel has given
me the right to be a parat-
rooper. I feel an allegiance
to Israel and its people.
What had the state to give
to me? What it gives to
every officer, to everyone
who serves among the
paratroopers. I do not think
that it has to give me more.
There is no reason for being
different."
And what did the
paratroopers give to
Amel? "Everything," he
says. "They changed me.
They provided me with
new values, broadened
my horizon. They fulfil-
led my dream to be a
commander of a parat-
rooper unit. I think that I
have all the necessary
qualifications for it. I
proved myself as a Com-
mander and a fighter. I
believe in myself."
Amel is the only officer
from his unit who remained
alive after a helicopter dis-
aster, in which 54 parat-
roopers were killed.
"I was the deputy to the
late Dudi Kohavi," he told
us. "Six weeks before the
disaster I was transferred to
another unit. Suddenly I
heard that my former unit
was killed in an accident.
"I was shocked. It was
hard, but I had to continue
to fulfill my duties. I could
not stop in the middle of an
operation. It took a long
time before I was able to put
up with it. I knew every one
of those killed. I heard their
names over the radio and
my heart ached. But I had to
continue with my mission."
Amel is continuing his
paratrooper missions and to
fulfill his dream to be the
commander of the Israeli
paratrooper units.
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JERUSALEM — Simone.
Veil, president of the Euro-
pean Parliament, received
an honorary doctorate of
philosophy from Hebrew
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In an address at the uni-
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as a French Jewess and as
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