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Druze: Middle East
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Within Druze villages and small towns in the Middle East, the predominant occupation has always been farming, and two classes of landowners and peasants have dominated the Druze economic landscape for centuries. Although most Druzes remain predominantly rural, rapid urbanization and modernization have not only transformed Druze village economics but ... facilitated increases in educational levels and professional training.
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Large communities of expatriate Druze ... live outside the Middle East in Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States and West Africa. They use the Arabic language and follow a social pattern very similar to the other East Mediterraneans of the region.[13]
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The survival of the Druze, and their political importance, are just one of a multitude of things about the Middle East that don't fit into a rational framework. Politicians such as Mr. Biden can leisurely contemplate drawing neat lines on the map, just like the colonial bureaucrats did, but will it translate into security?
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The Druze language is derived from Arabic. In everyday speech, the Druze are easily recognizable by the use of the qaf, a strong guttural "k" sound that is found in Arabic and translated as "q" in English. Outside the Middle East, the Druze may consciously drop the qaf and other distinct speech characteristics to avoid identification or appear more sophisticated.
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Jethro, Moses' father-in-law1, is the foremost prophet for the Druze. Their largest annual celebration is held at the tomb of Jethro, near Tiberias (Dana, 1980). Jethro, known as Nabi Schweib by the Druze, was a Midianite (Exodus 18:1), a tribe descending from Keturah, a wife of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-2). Genesis (25:6) describes that Abraham sent the sons of Keturah to the East. Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel (Glazerson, 1984) asserts that Abraham sent them to India. This is more evidence linking the Druze with India, or at least the East.
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In addition, at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, organizations arose and voices were heard in most of the villages that demanded civil equality between Druze and Jewish discharged soldiers. Criticism was ... voiced by certain of the young intelligentsia against the transformation of the Druze into a special nation, a situation that was unprecedented for Druze in the Middle East. The cooperation of the Druze leadership with the state institutions was also questioned, with charges of a "conspiracy" and corruption at the expense of the masses of Druze, in relation to the narrow political benefits paid to a small group of clan leaders.
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