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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Conditional loyalty By Israel Harel tags: Israeli Arabs, Peki'in  In the War of Independence, the Druze first fought against Israel. The battles against them, like that in Ramat Yohanan, were among the most fierce and most bloody. However, when they realized that the young state was heading for victory over the five invading armies and the local Arabs, they followed the traditional Druze survival norm of loyalty transfer. By the end of the war they were fighting alongside the Jews. When Israel conquered the Golan Heights, and especially after Jews began to settle there, the Druze community there came to the conclusion that Israel would never leave. They decided, as their brothers in Israel did 19 years earlier, to make an alliance with the Jews, and their elders asked for Israeli identity cards. But a few years later, their survival antenna picked up an unequivocal message: Israel is ready to withdraw from the Golan. The fear that the Syrians would settle the score with those who allied themselves with Israel led them yet again to transfer their loyalty, resulting in the large, sometimes violent rallies of solidarity with Syria. Advertisement As long as the Druze antenna perceived that the government was in control of the Galilee, the Druze villages remained calm. This changed once they concluded that Israel had failed - and therefore given up - its goal to establish a Jewish majority in the Galilee, and was incompetent to act against the Arabs' taking over state lands. Later they noticed that the Jews were also putting up with the various "vision" documents drafted by the Arab community's leaders, spelling out separation from the joint state. The Druze' radical branch became envious of its Arab neighbors, who were exercising independence unhindered by the authorities. The violence in Peki'in is the beginning of the process of Druze extremists imitating the Arab separatists. After many years of cooperation with Israel, the Druze extremists are trying to appease their fellow radicals. The complaints against the police, which were broadcast incessantly and which indirectly justify the violence, have proved to those orchestrating the riots that the bait - that the violence was directed against the antenna, i.e. for health reasons - had indeed been swallowed. So much so that one of the significant events in Peki'in has hardly been brought to the public's attention: the rioters burned down one Jewish family's house and wrecked another. The family found refuge with their Druze neighbors, with all the associations and fears that this evoked. Other families fled. The police, which had already left the village, did not heed the pleas of the hiding Jews and refused to reenter ("to avoid inflaming emotions") to extract them. "We were attacked because we are Jews," said one of those who fled, who requested not to release his name. "I fear the Jewish families will be afraid to return, putting an end to 2,000 years of consecutive Jewish settlement in Peki'in." The media, which already knew of this event in the morning, left it out of their reports. They also treated the abduction of a policewoman and her release - in exchange for detained rioters - as a marginal event. Instead, they ceaselessly rehash the police response. A wiser deployment probably would have avoided the shooting. But putting the main emphasis there proves that the media - as well as populistic politicians - have failed to understand the national motives of the Arabs in 2000 and the Druze in 2007. How easy and superficial it is to blame - always and for everything - the government and police, without telling the truth: no amount of benefits, bridging of gaps or providing equal rights can prevent the minorities' national-religious-ideological disengagement from the state. We wanted to believe that it would be different with the Druze. But they proved in Peki'in that, regrettably, even this community's loyalty is conditional. Bookmark to del.icio.us Steering her destiny Haaretz.com TV feature: Nabila is Israel's first female Muslim bus driver. Support the troops Former chief rabbi of U.S. Navy urges American Jews to help Jewish troops.   1.   Brilliant analysis- and sad 10:31  |  Israeli 01/11/07   2.   Conditional loyalty 11:21  |  Proud Druze 01/11/07   3.   Conditional Loyalty 11:24  |  Proud Druze 01/11/07   4.   Israeli logic 11:49  |  Truths 01/11/07   5.   Ultimately, Israel has no place for non-Jews 11:52  |  Natallie Durson 01/11/07   6.   Our very own Jumblatt 11:58  |  Maral 01/11/07   7.   #3 To the "proud Druze" 12:00  |  Hastaroth 01/11/07   8.   Druze vs Jews 12:22  |  wishfull 01/11/07   9.   Druze are Arabs 13:02  |  Najeeb Al-Durzi 01/11/07   10.   The Druze, The Bedouins, The Christians 13:41  |  Christian Arab 01/11/07   11.   Najeeb 13:49  |  Phil 01/11/07   12.   DRUZE SEE A PAPER TIGER SO DOES THE WORLD 13:56  |  D.Emon 01/11/07   13.   BUILD BIGGER JAILS IF NECESSARY 14:09  |  F.Alter 01/11/07   14.   Nightmare of the Ubermensch 14:14  |  Tosefta 01/11/07   15.   Agree with Natalie 15:36  |  Ron 01/11/07   16.   "grievances" are an excuse 15:45  |  bob 01/11/07

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