LIFE IN ISRAEL
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78 FRIDAY, AUG. 28, 1987
Israel's Small Druze Minority
Has Long History OF Loyalty
SHIMON BEN NOACH
Special to The Jewish News
D
espite conflicts of
interest over Leba-
non and the Golan
Heights, the relationship be-
tween Israel's Jewish major-
ity and its Druze minority
remains essentially harmoni-
ous. Indeed, most Israeli
Druze are proud patriots and
the Israeli flag is flown more
conspicuously in Druze vil-
lages than in Jewish towns.
There are an estimated
80,000 Druze living in Israel.
Of these, some 65,000 live in
18 villages throughout the
Galilee and on Mount Car-
mel, while a further 15,000
inhabit the slopes of the
Golan Heights.
The Druze are the followers
of a religious sect which split
from Islam in the 11th cen-
tury to follow the teachings
of the sixth Caliph of the
Isma'ili Fatimid dynasty.
The fundamental tenets of
the religion remain secret
even to the Druze them-
selves; only the community's
religious elders are party to
these secrets. Today, there
are close to 1 1 million Druze
around the world, with most
living in Syria (500,000) and
Lebanon (500,000).
At the specific request of
their community leaders,
Israel's Druze have under-
taken compulsory service in
the Israel Defense Forces
since 1975, although even
before that many Druze
fought voluntarily in the
army and in the pre-state
Haganah. In total, 180 Israeli
Druze have fallen while serv-
ing in the IDF, a fatality rate
that is proportionately higher
than in the Jewish sector of
Israeli society.
Like Jews in the Diaspora,
and other minorities all over
the world, Israel's Druze are
often more patriotic than the
country's Jewish majority.
Majeid Housseissi is prin-
cipal of a school in Daliyat
al-Carmel, Israel's largest
Druze village, which has a
population of 12,000.
Housseissi, who is a member
of the management executive
of the Druze Zionist club,
paints an idyllic picture of
current Druze-Jewish rela-
tions, sidestepping any sug-
gestions that recent events
have produced strains.
"It is true that a few Druze
soldiers refused to serve in
Lebanon," he says, "because
they did not want to come
into conflict with their cous
ins in Lebanon. But the Jews,
too, had conscientious objec-
President Chaim Herzog (r.) meets with a leader of the Israeli Druze (center).
An aide to Herzog accompanies them.
tors who refused to serve in
Lebanon.
"Most Druze living in the
Golan Heights (which was
annexed in 1982) would be
happy to become Israeli citi-
zens. The problem is they
have to pretend that they
are opposed to Israel. After
all, if Israel ever returned the
Golan Heights and they had
shown themselves to be too
pro-Israel, many Druze could
be hanging in the center of
Damascus. Besides, - many
Golan Druze have cousins
still living in Syria," Hous-
seissi says.
Rafik Halaby, a Druze
In total, 180 Israeli
Druze have fallen
while serving in
the. IDF
news director for Israel
television, takes a less con-
ciliatory line towards Israeli
policies. He feels that Israeli
Druze were confused and up-
set because the IDF backed
the Phalangists rather than
the Druze in their confronta-
tion in the Lebanon's Shouf
Mountains.
Halaby is also dissatisfied
with domestic matters. "The
Druze are like Arabs as far
as their rights are concerned
and Jews as regards their du-
ties," he claims. "If you ex-
amine municipal budgets for
Druze villages and those for
Jewish towns, you will see
the budgets are not compara-
ble. If you look at the condi-
tion of schoolhouses in Druze
villages, you will see the ex-
tent of the discrimination."
Nevertheless, Halaby as-
serts that Israel's Druze will
fight against these injustices
within the country's demo-
cratic framework.
Jaber Abu Rukun, mana-
ger of the library in Usfiya on
Mount Carmel, says that his
views lie between Halaby's
and Housseissi's. "It is true
that we Druze suffer from a
lack of investment in indus-
try and social and educa-
tional services in many of
our villages," he says. "It
is our right to have these ser-
vices improved. But perhaps
we should better learn how to
shout and use our democratic
freedom of speech to obtain
a larger budget for our vil-
lages." Abu Rukun insists
that events in Lebanon have
not damaged Druze-Jewish
relations in Israel.
Certainly, there seems to
be no disillusionment from
the outside. To the Western
visitor, a Druze village prob-
ably seems like any other
Arab village in the region: a
rustic, rural way of life that
seemingly defies the passage
of time. But beneath the sur-
face lies a fierce loyalty to the
Jewish State combined with
a proud determination to pre-
serve their heritage. The
Druze have been able to syn-
thesize their traditions with
modern ideologies.
The bond between Israel's
Jewish majority and Druze
minority seems a strong one
— one cemented by mutual
respect. Knesset member
Ziadan Atashe of the Shinui
Party likens the solidarity of
the Druze with that of the
Jews: "I compare myself
with Jews in the rest 'of the
world. Wherever Jews are
in stress, other Jews raise
public awareness and come to
their aid. So it is with us."