Druze call to avoid Israeli draft

Jumblatt: Druze across the divide will meet again

By Kim Ghattas in Beirut

In Lebanon, Druze leader and member of parliament Walid Jumblatt has called on members of the Druze community in Israel to refuse to serve in the Israeli army.

Mr Jumblatt's call to the Israeli Druze is not very likely to be heeded

Mr Jumblatt was speaking during a tour of southern Lebanon which was occupied by Israel for 22 years until May last year. His appeal was made in the Druze area of Hasbayya.

He stopped in several Christian and Muslim towns to follow up on the process of reconciliation between Christians and Druze which was started last weekend by the Maronite Patriarch, Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir.

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Surrounded by thousands of people, including dozens of Druze clerics, he appealed to the Israeli Druze, whom he describes as "the Druze of Palestine", not to participate in what he called the unjustifiable actions of the Israeli army against the Palestinians.

He said that if they could not stop serving altogether, then they should at least refuse to serve in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

'Liberation'

He added that sooner or later, Druze on both sides of the fence would meet again, and that Palestine would be liberated.

But Mr Jumblatt's call to the Israeli Druze is not very likely to be heeded.

Israeli Druze have been conscripted for several decades after they initially joined the Israeli army voluntarily.

They are now the only Arab Israeli community required to serve in the Israeli army - and on the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, many of the Druze still living there have also taken up Israeli nationality.