Jordan Times
Monday, August 20, 2001
Lebanese, Israeli Druze leaders meet in Amman
By Tareq Ayyoub
with agency dispatches
Jumblatt made the appeal at the start of a four-day meeting in Amman of over 100 Druze from Lebanon and Israel.
“The Druze community must find a scheme to confront the compulsory (military) service of Druze in the Israeli army as this matter will help our Palestinian brethren in their uprising,” Jumblatt told the participants at the meeting, the second in the past three months.
He said a working team made up of Lebanese and Israeli Druze had been set up to chart a strategy to achieve that goal.
The Amman meeting, attended by Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi and Refugee Affairs Minister Marwan Hamadeh, aims to look into ways to encourage young Druze men in Israel to shun the Israeli army.
Jumblatt, a former minister who heads the opposition Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), said the meeting will prepare the ground for the convening of a “national” conference with Circassians, Christians and Muslims in Israel, to urge the Druze community there not to join the Israeli armed forces.
In tandem, Jumblatt called for a “national Arab conference” to underscore the Arab identity of the Druze people who live in Lebanon, Israel and Syria, including the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
Jumblatt said he planned to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad soon “to discuss issues including the compulsory military service of Druze in Israel”.
Jumblatt made a similar appeal on August 12 at a rally in Bayyada, Lebanon, the main holy site for the Druze community.
He also claimed that he had received threats from Israel to end his campaign.
Jumblatt and Israeli Druze leaders signed a joint statement in Amman in May in which they urged members of their community to refuse the draft.
According to the PSP, three Druze have refused to serve in the army and have been sentenced to prison since the Amman declaration.
The head of the Druze delegation from Israel, Saeed Nafaa, said his community will “fight” to put an end to its service in the Israeli army.
“We have to stop the Israeli government's attempts to make us Israelis,” he told reporters. “ We are Arabs and we will preserve our identity,” added Nafaa.
The Israeli delegation also includes representatives of Bani Maarouf tribe from the Galilee and the Golan Heights.
The Druze, an offshoot of Islam, counts 80,000 Arab followers in Israel and another 20,000 in the occupied Golan Heights, who refuse Israeli citizenship.
But around 75,000 Druze have Israeli nationality and do military service there.
Many Druze who lived in parts of British-mandate Palestine, refused to leave their homes and villages after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel's creation.
In 1956, Israel forced the Druze and Circassian communities to serve in the army. Many Druze soldiers joined Israel's army during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Some Druze also live in Jordan.
The Israeli Embassy in Jordan downplayed the significance of the Amman meeting. “The subject is certainly of interest to Israel, but the Druze are known to be loyal to the state of Israel,” spokesman Amir Weissbrod told The Associated Press.
“We don't believe that Jumblatt would be able to persuade Israeli Druze not to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces,” he added.