A community of a 130,000 with elements of all three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – the Druze in Israel are an enriching and warm people embedded in this ancient land as its timeless rock.
Advisor to seven of Israel’s State Presidents on Minority Affairs and an Israel Prize laureate, Kamal Mansour
Daliyat al-Karmel
Most Israelis are familiar with the spectacular escape from Atlit in October 1945, when the Palmach (Israel’s pre-state fighting force), under the command of Yitzhak Rabin (who later became Israel’s Prime Minister), broke into the illegal immigrant detention camp at one o’clock in the morning and set free over 200 Jewish prisoners. Bedraggled and exhausted, the escapees – mostly holocaust survivors – dodged the British mandate forces as they fled on foot uphill over the Carmel to Kibbutz Yagur on the northern side of the mountain range. The story made international front-page news. What did not make news was that at the top of the mountain range, some of the fleeing Jews briefly connected with a people equally rooted to the land who helped them elude the pursuing British forces.
A former advisor to seven of Israel’s State Presidents on Minority Affairs and an Israel Prize laureate, Kamal Mansour of Isfiyah was a young boy in 1945 living in that same Druze village where his father was mayor when some of those exhausted and hungry Jewish escapees crept cautiously into his village. “,” Mansour says, “We acknowledged in deed the Jewish State before there was a Jewish State.” This hardly known episode in modern Jewish history reflects the characteristically low profile of a unique and special people who chipped in from the start to be a part of the modern state of Israel.
Driving into the large grounds of the Hasson family in Daliyat el- Carmel, the largest Druze village in Israel and its most southerly, the most striking feature was the huge Israeli flag, spread-eagle in the winter wind from a flagpole centered in the garden. The bold blue and white display of the Star of David is a permanent fixture, not a once-a-year Independence Day feature! The bookcase in the living room was replete with mainly Hebrew books. The writer was welcomed by Enam Hasson and her husband, Brigadier-General Hasson Hasson who is the Military and Security Adviser to the President of Israel, and Enam’s father, Kamal Mansour, who in 2010 was awarded the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian award.
Enam Hasson (Right) and her husband, Brigadier-General Hasson Hasson (Centre)
View From Above
Located in the heart of the Carmel National Park on the crest of Mount Carmel, Daliyat el-Carmel was established some 400 years ago. A population of some 15,000 residents, they trace their ancestry to the hill country near Aleppo (Halab) in northern Syria, attested to by their strong Aleppo accent and the name of the largest family in the village – Halabi. Drive or walk around the town and one’s eyes cannot avoid the name Halabi on one window after another, advertising restaurants, law and accounting offices and doctor’s rooms. Over tea and cake this writer sat down with Kamal Mansour, who was the first Druze to serve on the Board of Directors of Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), the first Druze to sit on the Board of Governors of both Haifa University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and the first Druze to be a member of the plenum of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA). In 2010, he was presented with the Israel Prize in recognition of the enormous service he had rendered to the State of Israel. Mansour explained that the Druze community is officially recognized as a separate religious entity with its own courts, which have jurisdiction in matters of personal status: marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption and spiritual leadership. While the Druze culture is mainly Arabic, they opted against mainstream Arab nationalism in 1948 and have since served as volunteers in the Israeli Defense Force and the Border Police and thereafter within the draft system. Mansour proudly says “Although I was too old when conscription for Druze was introduced, I nevertheless served in the reserves for 26 years and six days.” The writer was referred to the Druze poet, historian and diplomat, Reda Mansour, who wrote: “We are the only non-Jewish minority that is drafted into the military and we have an even higher percentage in the combat units and as officers than the Jewish members themselves. So, we are considered a very nationalistic, patriotic community.”
Advisor to seven of Israel’s State Presidents on Minority Affairs and an Israel Prize laureate, Kamal Mansour (right) with his daughter Enam Hasson and grandchildren.
Ayoob Kara, Minister of Communications.
All the President’s Man
Shimon Peres was the sixth President to whom Mansour served as an advisor, representing all the minority groups in Israel. How did it come about? “President Shazar invited to his home representatives from all the minorities in Israel. After he had spoken, and he was a gifted orator, he looked at me and asked if I would like to say a few words. I had the fortune – or misfortune – to be standing closest to him, so what could I do, refuse the President of Israel? And so, I spoke.” So, impressed was Shazar that “he offered me the job.” Mansour smiles as he relates serving on the Committee to investigate the proposal to introduce TV to Israel. “It is hard today to envisage the debate at that time. Both Golda Meir and Ben Gurion were dead against it. Ben Gurion thought people would stay away from work to watch TV.” Mansour had no such misgivings. Looking to the future and embracing its challenges has always been his approach in life. Although been asked to stand for the Knesset, on many occasions, Mansour always declined. “Although I was for many years a member of the Labor Party, party politics was not for me. Maybe Enam,” he smiles at his daughter. “She is more suited, I think.” If she did she would join an illustrious number of Druze legislators, of which, the three most prominent were Ayoob Kara Minister of Communications , Saleh Tarif a former minister without portfolio, and Mahali Wahabi who served as Deputy Foreign Minister and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. Comprised of more than one million people, about 18.8 percent of Israel’s population, Israel’s minorities are made up of Muslim Arabs, Bedouin Arabs, Christian Arabs, the Circassians (some 3,000 concentrated in two northern villages) and the Druze. “Representing the minorities could not have been an easy job; how did you manage it?” inquired the writer. “I am a good listener,” explains Mansour. “You need to listen to the people to understand their needs. This is sometimes a problem of the Israeli leadership and of Israelis generally who often, are more likely to know Russian, French or English as a second language than Arabic. This does not make sense for a people living in the Middle East where the lingua franca is Arabic. To be truly part of a region, you have to speak the language of the people you want to connect with; otherwise the relationship will always be problematic.” Mansour says he constantly toured the country, visiting people from the different minorities. “I arranged for them to meet the State President at his residence in Jerusalem as well as for the President to visit them in their villages. It’s true that our President’s position is largely ceremonial and he does not have the power of an executive leader, nevertheless, he can and does influence matters in his own way. Connecting personally with the people is so important.”
Nabi Shu’ayb – Is a Druze and Muslim religious prophet, traditionally identified with the biblical Jethro, whose possible shrine/tomb is believed to be located near Kfar Zeitim, not far from Tiberias, Israel
More that Unites than Divides
The Druze are famous for their hospitality, and Mansour is no exception with his home on the Carmel having long been a place of pilgrimage for heads of state, local politicians, academics, entertainers, business folk, army officers and endless visitors from Israel and abroad. “They all sign a guest book, which so far contains just over 40,000 signatures,” he says. Over the years, Mansour is frequently asked what motivates this passionate loyalty to Israel by the Druze community. “There is more that unites than divides us. Druze do not accept converts to their religion, and while Jews do accept converts, the conversion laws are extremely stringent. Druze discourage intermarriage and polygamy, as do Jews and both religions forbid the consumption of pork. Druze believe in making the world a better, more humane place, and Jews believe in tikun olam – fixing the world.”
khalwat—a house of prayer
Following Father’s Footsteps
Mansour’s daughter Enam is a graduate in French literature and Philosophy from Haifa University and works today for the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) as the company’s liaison with the villages in the north of the country. Together with her husband Hasson, they are passionate about initiating and nurturing educational programs for their community and praise the “wonderful contribution Jews abroad have been in sponsoring scholarships for Druze students. This exemplifies the warm relationship between Druze and Jews. We have seen over the last ten years the increase in Druze students with more of them entering the workplace as doctors, engineers, scientists and researchers in hi-tech and many other fields.” Enam stresses, “These rising stars will make excellent ambassadors for Israel,” another project she is active in. No wonder her father says, “Enam is more suited than me for politics.” Prior to moving to Daliat el-Carmel, the Hasson family lived for seven years on Kibbutz Bachan, near Bat Hefer. “Our kids went to the Kibbutz school and attended chugim (activities) with Jewish children. There is no reason why there should not be more interaction between our communities.” Adding on from her father on the similarities between Druze and Jews, Enam emphasizes both communities’ respect for women. “Firstly, regarding personal status, women’s rights are almost identical to those of men. Women can institute divorce proceedings as easily men and are on an equal footing in relation to the laws of inheritance.” “Secondly,” asserts Enam, “both our religions are confined to those born into it with the Druze even more so than Judaism. While the Jewish religion makes it very difficult to convert, in our religion it’s impossible. If you are not born a Druze, you can never become or marry one. There are no exceptions.” Interestingly, as much as 60% of Druze are secular, which means they cannot attend the holy places of worship. “That is not the same as Jews that irrespective of their level of observance can always enter a synagogue,” says Enam. “However, because we are secular, and thus barred from entering our holy places, this does not make us any less Druze.” On top of being closed to converts, the Druze religion is also secretive. From the theological perspective, the secrecy derives from the belief that the gates of the religion were open to new believers for the space of a generation when it was first revealed and everyone was welcome to join. Since they believe that everyone alive today is the reincarnation of someone who lived at that time, there is no reason to allow them to join today. This explains why Druze refrain from engaging in missionary work and why no member of another religion can become a Druze.
The uqqal – “The knowers”
A Closed Book
Druze religious books are accessible only to the initiates, the uqqal – “the knowers”. The juhal or “ignorant ones”, accept the faith based on the tradition handed down from generation to generation. “We who are not religious are not permitted to read the holy books,” explains Mansour. While Druze consider their faith to be an interpretation of the three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam -don’t expect to extract from a Druze the influence each of the three religions has had on their religion. The writer put the question to Mansour and was met with a guffaw: “What! Do you think a Druze would ever reveal that? If one religion thought that they were any less or more influential than the other, what do you think would happen? Religion is a volatile business, and we are relieved that Druze have no religious connection whatsoever to Jerusalem.” That real estate “is more a curse than a blessing,” he says laughing, “and thankfully, we are out of that picture.”
The Tomb of Jethro
Professor Naim Araidi
Sparks of Genius
However, what is very much “in the picture” is integrating more and younger Druze into the commercial life of Israel – “Especially in top positions and education is the key,” asserts Israel’s President’s military aid, Hasson Hasson. In 2012, Hasson initiated a project ‘Technion Sparks’ under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Education Ministry, Haifa’s Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and Atidim, an organization that promotes education and encourages the pursuit of excellence. It enables Druze high school pupils who have obtained top grades at school and have an orientation towards science and technology, to take special courses at the Technion where they are exposed to academia and where they are stretched to the limits of their potential. When the project was launched in December 2012 at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, Peres quipped: “On military matters, Hasson is my subordinate but on civilian matters I am his, especially when it comes to education. I’m a very good educational aide-de-camp.” Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar said while there had been improvement across the board in education, “no sector of the population had improved to the same extent as Druze students who are so highly motivated.” Six of the outstanding Druze high school students shared their impressions of the project. “As a result of the Technion experience, we can all affect change,” said female student Yaara Abu Rokan. Saaid Kaid Ba saw the programme as a breakthrough for the community, while Issam Kis, the son of a Technion graduate in engineering, has his sights set on becoming a pilot in the Israel Air Force and then continuing on in civil aviation. Bashar Isami wants to be an electrical engineer, Nasiv Ayd hopes of becoming an astrophysicist, and Fadhi Badar wants to be engaged in scientific research. Peres, as always, had the last laugh. While referring to the wisdom of King Solomon, who is as much revered by the Druze as by the Jews, he pointed out that the Druze had a much older point of reference in that of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law who is revered by Druze as a prophet and considered the ancestor of the Druze. Quipped Peres: “Jethro started the first faculty for management, and his first student was Moses!” The programme is expanding, “and I believe that in another five years time, we will enroll 5000 students each year,” said Hasson. “This will change the future of the Druze; we need to think now in only big numbers; it will impact enormously on the future of the Druze community – education is the way.” Another of Hasson’s more recent projects “is to perfect public speaking amongst young Druze.” While the lessons take place at selected high schools, it falls under the Foreign Ministry. He explains that “this is a win-win-win – it’s a win for the Druze community, it’s a win for the student and it’s a win for the State of Israel. Hopefully we will also have more Druze diplomats in the future.” They would join the likes of Druze Professor for Hebrew Literature Naim Araidi who was appointed in 2012 as Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand. Araidi, who wrote his doctorate on the poetry of Uri Zvi Grinberg and lectured at Haifa and Bar Ilan universities, was awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Hebrew Literature in 2008. His parting words before leaving to take up his position in New Zealand reflect the warm and enriching relationship between the Druze community and the State of Israel: “After years of representing the State of Israel unofficially, it would be a great privilege for me to do so in an official capacity and show Israel’s beautiful side, as well as the coexistence that despite all the hardships, can only be maintained in a true democracy.”
