Druze in Mandatory Palestine

Palestinian Druze were people in Mandatory Palestine who belonged to the Druze ethnoreligious group.[1][2] During the first census of the British mandate, Druze were one of eight religious demographic groups who were categorized,[3] The sense of a distinct identity among Druze began to increase in the 1930s when some other Arab citizens viewed them as being neutral during ethnic contentions.[4] During the early 20th century, many authors depicted the Druze as neutral during the clashes that happened between Arabs and Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. This perception eventually culminated in Israeli leadership approaching the Druze who were in leadership positions and offering them a treaty of non-aggression, leading to somewhat tranquil relations between the two.[5]

Palestinian Druze family making bread 1920.

During the British Mandate for Palestine, the Druze did not embrace the rising Arab nationalism of the time or participate in violent confrontations. In 1948, many Druze volunteered for the Israeli army and no Druze villages were destroyed or permanently abandoned.[6] Since the establishment of the state, the Druze have demonstrated solidarity with Israel and distanced themselves from Arab and Islamic radicalism.[7] Druze citizens serve in the Israel Defense Forces.[8]

Demographics

The 1922 census recorded 7,028 Druze, mostly living in the Sub-Districts of Acre, Haifa, Tiberias and Safed.[9] By the time of the 1931 census, this number had risen to 9,148 persons.[10] The 1945–1946 Survey of Palestine estimated that about 13,000 Druze lived in Palestine at that time.[11]

Principle centers of Druze population in Palestine[12][13]
village 1922 census 1931 census
Daliyat al-Karmel9211154
Yirka9371138
Beit Jann8951099
Maghar676877
Isfiya590742
Julis442586
Shefa-Amr402496
Hurfeish386474
El Buqei'a304412

See also

References
  1. Chatty, Dawn (2010-03-15). Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81792-9.
  2. Simon Harrison (2006). Fracturing Resemblances: Identity and Mimetic Conflict in Melanesia and the West. Berghahn Books. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-1-57181-680-1.
  3. Barron, Table I.
  4. "The Druze Between Palestine and Israel, 1947-49 | Middle East Policy Council". www.mepc.org.
  5. Yoav Gelber, Independence Versus Nakba; Kinneret–Zmora-Bitan–Dvir Publishing, 2004, ISBN 965-517-190-6, p. 115
  6. "Internal Displacement Monitoring Center – Israel". Archived from the original on 3 September 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
  7. "The Druze in Israel: Questions of Identity, Citizenship, and Patriotism" (PDF).
  8. Stern, Yoav (23 March 2005). "Christian Arabs / Second in a series – Israel's Christian Arabs don't want to fight to fit in". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  9. J. B. Barron, ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine. Table XI.
  10. E. Mills (1933). Census of Palestine 1931. Volume II. Alexandria: Government of Palestine. Table VII.
  11. Government of Palestine. A Survey of Palestine, prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. Vol. II. p. 925.
  12. J. B. Barron, ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  13. E. Mills, ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.


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