Druze in the Time of "Inattention": From the Palestinian Plow to the Israeli Gun
Author: 
Publisher: 
مؤسسة الدراسات الفلسطينية
Publication Year: 
2019
Language: 
Arabic
Number of Pages: 
416
TABLE OF CONTENT
Abstract

Based mainly on Israeli archives, this study covers the Israeli and Zionist plans and policies aimed towards the Druze of Palestine since the thirties of the 20th century until today. The study traces the Israeli political institution’s success in forcing compulsory military conscription over Palestinian Druze, and opposing movements which are still active inside the Palestinian Druze society until today. The study analyzes the effects of the move of Palestinian Druze from working in agriculture to working within Israeli security institutions on the behavior of Druze recruits inside the Zionist state and on some of their leaders who adopt a language similar to that of mercenaries in demanding equal rights treatment from Israel. When it comes to the Druze of Palestine, Zionist studies often ignore the political and intellectual diversity within the Palestinian Druze society towards the Zionist institution, while attempting to portray the Palestinian Druze as a one homogenous body which identifies with the Zionist movement. For example, Israel ignores that Samih Al Qasem, the Palestinian resistance’s poet, is indeed one of the many Palestinian Druze who oppose dismantling the Arab identity of the Druze of Palestine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kais M. Firro was born in 1944 in the Palestinian village of Asfia. He earned his PhD from the center of Mediterranean studies in France in 1980. He worked as a lecturer in the department of Middle Eastern History in Haifa University, where he later headed the department between 1997 – 2000. He is the author of 8 books in Arabic and in other foreign languages. He published several scientific studies in prestigious academic publications. His English language book, “Inventing Lebanon”, 2003, reached the final list of the best 5 books published inside the UK about the Middle East.