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W. side of Northwestern 357-7733 =sistimisoassamsolm111111111 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."