1999-01-15 Daliyat al Karmil |
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By Donald H. Harrison Daliyat al Karmil, Israel (Special) -- In Israel, Jews think of Druze as the “friendly Arabs”--the Arabic-speaking minority group who are loyal to Israel and whose men serve willingly in Israel’s Defense Force. As the new mayor in this Druze village near Haifa, Ramzi Halaby wants
to build upon those warm feelings. A professor of economic development
at Tel Aviv University, Halaby wants to use the knowledge he gained while
earning his doctorate there in behalf of his people.
Besides being “friendly,” the Druze also are known for being “private.” Many details of their religion--which is an offshoot of Islam--are kept secret not only from outsiders but also from the main body of Druze themselves. Does Halaby fear that tourism may cause some of that privacy--and some Druze traditions--to be eroded? “It does not worry me,” the mayor replied. “We are talking about globalization. All the world is just a small town, and we are part of this town and you cannot stay alone in your village. ...We are a community in change all the time. We too change our values even. We are thinking all the time what we can keep and maintain from our traditions--the values that are very important for us to maintain and keep--and others that we have and must change. “For example,” he said, “let’s take the question of time. In the Druze tradition, time is not very important; we are not talking like Americans, that ‘time is money.’ I would like our people to deal with time as Americans do.” In a Druze village, he explained, “a friend can say to you, ‘I am going to visit with you today,’ and you have to stay all the day waiting for him. I would prefer we copy the American way of life, and say, ‘I am going to visit you at 5 o’clock so wait for me then.’ This would give importance to the time of other people, and would deal with them another way. We cannot develop an industry and modern systems without changing some of the things that we have to change in our values.” Another area where Halaby would like to see change is in the status of women in Druze society. Essentially, they are village-bound. Most are discouraged from working. Those who do work are expected to stay close to home. As a rule, Druze women do not get a driver’s license, and to do so would raise a minor scandal. It is considered inappropriate for a Druze woman to be alone with a man who is not a member of her family. Halaby believes that if such practices continue, “it will be a big minus for us. Half of the society has to work and take part and participate in all the activities of our society,” he said. “It should not be only the men.” On this issue, Halaby is not a lonely voice. A year ago, Mallika
Alkara was elected to the 13-member town council, the first woman to be
so honored in the 50 years that Israel had been a state. She
had been eighth on her party’s candidate list, but five of the men who
were nominated ahead of her resigned in her favor so that she could occupy
a council seat and focus on trying to improve the educational system for
Druze girls.
Besides tourism, Halaby wants to attract other industries with staying power and economic potential. Jobs in food and textile factories no longer are available in Daliyat al Karmil “because most of the traditional industries and simple industries have gone out of Israel to the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt,” the mayor explained. “That is very dangerous not only from the economic perspective but from the social one, so we need to develop new things, new ideas, new projects, in different domains and fields.” Halaby said Druze must do a better job in attracting their share of government funds. “In Israel, you have to speak the language of Israelis--you know the Israeli word chutzpah? -- I think I have it too. I use my Israeli chutzpah to tell everyone that I want to have my rights here for my people and for my village. As a man who considers himself Israeli and an Israeli Druze, I can get more, I think, for my region. The other thing is planning. We demand projects and help from the government and other institutions to give us the right things. If you demand in the right way, you can get better results, I think.” As the interview at the mayor’s home was about to draw to a close, Halaby put up his hand to prevent me from taking my leave. “I would like to say something,” he declared. “We are looking for the way that we can cooperate with people everywhere, especially Jewish communities which would like to invest here in Israel, especially in a Druze village whose citizens are serving in the Army and are proud citizens of Israel,” he said. “Maybe the people where your newspaper is circulated would like to come
to Daliyat al Karmil and see this place and maybe check the opportunities
here and think about cooperation in cultural and economic projects.”
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