Druze politics in Israel

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to study the relation between the Druze and the Israeli State. This topic is extremely controversial and many there are many misconceptions about the Druze in Israel. Hence, I intended to reveal these misconceptions and show the true stance of the Druze society. The Druze are a misunderstood minority. Beside that, few scholars have studied this society based on genuine sources. There are several historical incidents that happened in Israel which the scholars and researchers had misinterpreted. Hence, the originality of this thesis is to re-interpret these events and the Druze politics in Israel. The findings of the thesis shows that the Israeli state wants to create a Druze nationalism in order to use the society to police and control the Arab minority. This is called the Gurkha Syndrome. Another finding is that the Druze in 1948 stood beside the Arab armies against Zionism. This is one historical event which is misinterpreted by many researchers who believe that the Druze have been with the Zionists since the early 1930s. One main reason is the Druze faith which clearly states that the Druze are Arabs and they belong to the Islam. Finally, even though there are Druzes in Zionist political parties, this doesn’t reflect the true stand of the Druze. The Druze are trying their best to preserve their Arab and Islamic belonging while at the same time accommodating the Israeli state in order to avoid severe collective punishment.