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116 SHOFAR Fall 1997 Vol. 16, No.1 discovery and scholarly study that the author has conceived in this interesting and valuable volume. Efraim Ben-Zadok College of Urban and Public Affairs Florida Atlantic University Druze and Jews in Israel: A Shared Destiny, by Zeidan Atashi. Brighton, U.K.: Sussex Academic Press, 1995.207 pp. $45.00. Zeidan Atashi is a distinguished member of the Israeli Druze community, a former member ofthe Knesset, the ftrst non-Jew to serve as a senior Israeli diplomat. This book is his interpretation of the role of his people as a small minority (two percent) in the Jewish state and society. The Druze are a distinctive religious community which is believed to be a heterodox offshoot of Shi'a Islam. A rural Arab-speaking people, the 80,000 or so Druze in Israel inhabit villages in the northern highlands and the Galilee. Their survival strategy is based on a fterce attachment to their land combined with accommodative adjustments to the legitimate government of their area, as long as their religious practices, culture, and way of life are respected. Thus they have accommodated to Israeli rule, as have their more numerous co-religionists in Syria and Lebanon to the regimes in those countries. Having agreed to accept all the burdens and responsibilities of citizenship, they have consented, unlike their Muslim and Christian fellow Arabs, to be conscripted for compulsory service into the Israel Defense Forces and have performed with distinction in all Israel's wars since 1956, suffering a high rate of casualties. The Israeli government has cultivated this relationship to demonstrate that Arab citizens could, if they so chose, establish relationships of cooperation and trust with the Jewish state. To reward their loyalty, the government has been generous with symbolic recognition ofthe Druzes' special status, providing a special set of religious courts and a separate system ofschooling apart from the Arab educational stream. Druze have been chosen for Knesset seats by the major political parties and have held seats in excess of their proportion ofthe population. Nevertheless, divided as they are among clan-based factions, several ofwhose leaders have been coopted into dependence on the state, the Druze have been slow to organize as a political pressure group. A number of serious grievances have emerged, especially among young men, several of whom have as a consequence been attracted to Palestinian nationalism. The ftrst of theses grievances relates to the sensitive question ofland, to the Israeli policy ofrequisitioning Arab lands Book Reviews 117 for military and other uses. The second concerns the sluggishness ofIsrael's government in providing infrastructure (roads, sewage, water supply) to Arab villages and planning approval for the erection ofbadly needed housing. Moneys and authorizations have been much less generous and much slower for Arab, including Druze, than for comparable Jewish settlements. Druze believe that since they share the burden of national defense, they are entitled to nothing less than equal treatment. To date, the government has been long on promises but short on performance. The third grievance concerns career opportunities for young men who complete their military service. Since they have no entrepreneurial tradition, Druze look to government service for employment. This is especially the case now that Druze have achieved a higher level of education and acquaintance with the world beyond their villages. Except for expanded opportunities in the security services, most government jobs remain closed to non-Jews. The author argues that unless Israel moves to correct this disparity at a much faster rate, young Druze will be increasingly disaffected and embrace Palestinian nationalism as an outlet for their sense of betrayal by the Israeli government. The lesson will not be lost on other Israeli Arabs who will conclude that even those who cooperate with the Jews are condemned to second-class status. The author believes that the Druze formula-full cooperation with the established government in exchange for non-discriminatory treatment and respect for the minority's religion and culture-provides a sound basis for majority-minority relations in the Middle East and beyond. This formula has been faithfully adhered to by the Druze, but has been neglected by successive Israeli governments and by the various state bureaucracies...

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