LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Druze: Israeli Druze
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Numbering about 19,000, the Druze of the Golan Heights are unique in the landscape of the Arab-Israeli conflict. They are a potential bridge between Syria, which they consider their homeland, and Israel, which has given them residency and social benefits. At the same time that many work and study inside Israel, others get permission to cross the border for university studies in Damascus.
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Today Druze soldiers are the only Arabs allowed to serve in the Israeli army, except for the Bedouin Desert Patrol Unit, a volunteer militia group that helps to keep the Gaza Strip isolated. Other Arab Israelis do not want to fight against Arabs, and some Israelis do not trust their fellow Arab citizens, so their exclusion from the military is accepted.
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The prevailing view ... argues that as Israeli citizens, Druze must respect and obey the laws of the state. The Compulsory Military Service Law of 1951 states that every Israeli citizen who reaches the age of 18 must be mobilized into the IDF. The defense minister is authorized under this law to exempt certain individuals or groups for religious and national reasons.
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The Druze, who live in villages in Galilee and around Mount Carmel, have traditionally formed a closed, tight-knit community and practice a secretive religion founded in 11th-century Fatimid Egypt. Though Israeli Druze maintain contact with coreligionists in Lebanon and Syria, members of each group adhere to the authority of the country of their residence.
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While Ms. Ayoub committed to her husband that day, she ... knew that she could not return to her family in Syria, as the Druze women who cross from one side to the other are not permitted to return. She is like dozens of Syrian Druze women for whom marriage has meant a one-way ticket across the 40-year-old Syrian-Israeli divide over the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict.
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In Israel, where the Druze enjoy prominence in the military and in politics greatly surpassing their proportion of the general population, the majority of Druze do not identify themselves as Arabs [18]. Since 1957 the Israeli government has officially considered the Druze to be a distinct ethnic community, at the request of the community's leaders.
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Israeli Druze