A pearl between two war zones

While the media day in, day out focus their attention on fighting Jews and Palestinians, there is one group of people in the Holy Land that is always forgotten. A group that fights with Jews nor Palestinians, that speaks Arab and Jewish and that maybe holds a key in solving problems in this war zone: the Druze. And I wouldn’t have known about them, if it wasn’t for that one day in Haifa, when just by accident I bump into a girl named Lisa.

My goal that day is just to visit Haifa, the home town of Yans parents. Yan is an Israeli friend of mine that I travelled with in India for a month. Who I have finally decided to visit in his home country, Israel. Unfortunately he has to work the next few days in Eilat, the most southern city in Israel, near to both the Egypt and Jordan border. Which is why I decide to draw my own plan and take a bus to the north of Israel to pay Haifa a visit, the place where Yan was born and brought up. Just at the moment I have seen enough of Haifa -tired of walking with the sun burning my skin to the bone- and thinking of taking a bus to Tel Aviv, I bump into a minivan that seems to leave soon. Thinking it’s my lucky day and the bus is heading for the capital, I ask the girl standing next to the bus where the bus is going to. ´To Daliyat-al-Karmel, a Druze village´, she says.

Who ever read the Alchemist of Paulo Coelho, probably knows that life is about picking up the signs when they appear. These signs can be found anywhere, you just have to be alert enough to recognize them. After picking them up, you still have to decide though to go straight on, go to the left or to the right. It sounds easy, sometimes it’s not. Today it is. I am in no hurry and so I decide to go to the right. To be exact to Daliyat-al-Karmel, the Druze village where the bus is heading to. In the bus Lisa explains to me what the Druze are exactly. Hearing their name only triggers images of dwarfs, of small primitive people that live in the forest. Reality doesn’t look anything like that. Lisa is a beautiful woman, well dressed according to the latest fashion. Before having her picture taken, she combs her beautiful dyed red hair, colours her lips with lipstick and smiles defiantly to the camera. During our conversation her mobile phone constantly rings. Jewish friends with whom she speaks Hebrew. And Arab friends with whom she speaks Arabic.

The Druze, also known as Druz or Druse, are a religious community found primarily in Lebanon, Israel and Syria, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of the Islam. The community is unique in its incorporation of certain non-Islamic philosophies though. One of them is that the Druze believe that after Abraham there was another saviour, called Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who at some stage disappeared and said to be killed by his servants. The Druze maintain though that he did not die, but went into occultation. Ever since he is considered to be the reincarnation and manifestation of God. Because of this, the Druze are labelled as a non-Muslim sect, even though some Druze identify themselves as Muslims. The origin of the name Druze is traced to Nashtakin ad-Darazi, one of the first preachers of the religion. Their population reaches between 750,000 and 2,000,000, of which 118,000 live in Israel. Where they make more than 10% of the population, usually have the Israeli citizenship and perform military service. Exception to this rule are some Druze that live in the Golan Height near Syria, the country where the majority of the Druze lives today.

While the elder Druze appear to be Muslim in the way they dress and the Druze are considered an Islamic sect, Lisa is very straight on this: the Druze definitely are not Islamic. Which sounds reasonable; looking at her and her friends, you would not presume she is Muslim. She speaks Hebrew, doesn’t wear a headscarf and wears jeans and a tight T-shirt instead.

The elder people in the village look completely different though. With the elder men dressed in long robes and wearing a Fez hat, covered with a turban and the ladies wearing a long dark dress accompanied by a white headscarf, they do appear to be Islamic. Even I am so conditioned to think in boxes here (either you are Jewish, ór you are Islamic), that it takes some time to understand that things are not always about black or white here. Sometimes people cannot be put in a box.


This is exactly the case with the Druze. They are neither Arabic nor Jewish, but do speak Hebrew and Arabic. Both languages are spoken in a mixture; one sentence can contain both Hebrew and Arabic words. One Druze menu can be in Jewish, while the menu of a Druze next door is in Arabic. One conversation is in Jewish, the other in Arabic. In this, they are the linking pin between both parties. They don’t have to choose side; they have very good connections with both parties.

I all of a sudden remember a situation in Jordan last week, an Islamic country. I was staying in Petra, a place in the south of the country, in a hostel run by Islamic people. That night there were also five male Israeli guests, which seemed to cause some tension in the hostel by making offensive remarks about the owner and his Arab background. This went on for a little while and I noticed that not all five Israelis participated in the discussion. There was one person in the group that said nothing. Instead of making offences, at some stage he took out his whistle and started talking in Arabic to the hostel owner. Together they started up a nice little party with some traditional music and dancing. Jewish and Arabic music and dancing. The whole tension was gone, it was a great night. When I asked the Israelis how come their friend speaks Arabic, they told me that he was a Druze. He was busy dancing though, so I never really got to ask him more about his background. By that time I still thought that a Druze was some type of Jew. Why else would he be on holidays with his Jewish buddies? It all starts to make sense to me now that I am in Daliyat-al-Karmel.

Not just their clothing, their conversations and their menu cards are full of (apparent) opposites. On one hand Lisa’s favourite TV show is Sex and the City; Sarah Jessica Parker is her idol. Lisa is in love with Mathew Perry (known as Chandler in Friends) and has ‘Put your hands up for Detroit’, a famous house beat, as a ring tone on her mobile phone. That same mobile contains lots of pictures of her (western looking) boyfriend, and while sitting in a café, drinking a café o lait, she cannot help flirting with the waiter. She does not want her picture to be taken before combing her hair and colouring her lips pink.

But on the other hand she is not allowed to (and does not) kiss before marriage. Having sex before marriage is not even something to consider in her religion. Her marriage to be will probably be an arranged marriage, which is one of the reasons why Lisa is not allowed to hang around with her cousins. Whether it will be her cousin or not, she will definitely get married to another Druze, like her religion demands from her. Not because she hás to, but because she wánts to, she stresses. She wants the modern part of life, but she also wants the traditional part. And also wants to give this traditional part to her future children. And that is maybe the most beautiful thing about her. She is not in an identity crisis, like so many third generation immigrants in Holland. She just tries to combine the best things of both worlds. And she seems to succeed in that.

She prefers to pick her own husband instead of having an arranged marriage, but does want to refrain from any sexual behaviour until marriage. She is determined to wear fashion, but tops need to have shoulders and the skirts and trousers need to be at least up to the knee. She wants to pray regularly, but in her own environment and in her own way. And she accepts that the Druze community is divided in two groups: the ignorant and the wise, the so called ´uqqal´. It is only the wise that are permitted to read the Druze holy books and take place in the Thursday night religious ceremonies. Lisa is no uqqal, which means she can only hope she qualifies for that in her next life. Druze women's rights are almost identical to those of men though. Actually, Druze women are preferred over men in joining the uqqal, because they are considered to be more ‘spiritually prepared’. She has a passion for travel and exploring the world – in June she is going to the United States for the first time and cannot wait to see the Statue of Liberty. She even called her shop, that only sells items that are five shekels (the equivalent of one US dollar), ´dollar´. But in the end she wants to live in Israel, in between other Druze.

She has a very strong backbone, just like all the other Druze out there it seems. She knows that she needs to keep her traditions in order to survive as a community in the world. The Druze don’t have a language or a country of their own, nor a dedicated part of a country like the Palestinians or Jews. So there will be no continuation of their genes unless they do it themselves and follow the religious commands. Which is why she is convinced to marry a Druze. Something she secretly looks forward to a lot. Like many Arab communities, a traditional Druze wedding is a huge thing in life. It includes the entire village, other Druze, and a handful of invited ‘outsiders’. As many as five hundred people might join the celebration.

In spite of the fact that Lisa almost blindly follows the rules that the Druze religion lays on her, it does not seem like Lisa is naive. Nor that she does not know what is out there for sale, in terms of sex and other things that are forbidden in her believe for the moment. I try to explain to her that my sister is trying to adopt a child together with her husband, thinking that adoption is something Lisa has never heard about. But luckily television even covered that aspect. ´Adoption... you mean like Angelina Joly´s and Brad Pitts children, right?´ Uhh, yes... Unbelievable, smart ass! Her little sister appears to be a smart ass as well, just like her big sister. With her backpack that is almost as big as she is, her rebellious but at the same time interested and curious eyes, she seems to be a copy of her eight year older sister. While we are having coffee in a stylish cafe to talk, her sister runs in twice to order cookies and a milkshake. And manages to get it for almost free.

After having coffee, which Lisa insists on paying for, while I know for her it is a lot of money, we walk to the restaurant of her aunt. Which is located next to her moms shop and serves pure Druze food, according to Lisa. Food is a big thing in the Druze tradition. In addition to being concerned with the quality of what they eat, the Druze also have a highly developed social code that centers about food and dining - a code inherent from their origins, and still seen in their cooking. Typical Druze ingredients are pomegranate, orange blossom water and sumac. Pomegranate seeds are often served with salads and the juice of the pomegranate is used in preparing many sauces. Orange blossom water is added not only to stews but also to Turkish coffee. Sumac, a sourish, dark brown-red seed, is ground to a powder and used to flavor kebabs, fish or salads.

The way they make the food is special as well. They use a special type of pan, that looks like a wok, but is used upside down. For example in order to make pitas, one of Lisa’s favourite dishes. The Druze pitas are paper thin and can be as much as fifty centimetres in diameter. They are eaten plain or spread with clarified butter and dried herbs. Another dish famous here is kibbeh, There are hundreds of versions of this delicacy, but the most popular version is made by pounding a mixture of cracked wheat, grated onion and minced lamb into a paste. Which can be eaten raw, fried or grilled. The best way to experience the Druze cuisine is probably during a wedding, Lisa tells. Preparations begin days beforehand, and many of the villagers help in creating large quantities of special delicacies. She can hardly wait.

Since today is Memorial Day in Israel, everything is closed tonight. Meaning also public transport is out of service and I have to leave pretty early in order to make it to Tel Aviv tonight. Before I go, Lisa wants me to have a farewell present. And gives me a stone that is shaped like an eye. It is supposed to bring good luck, she says. Since buses have stopped running early this afternoon already, we walk up to the taxi-stand. If I can take a taxi up to Haifa, I can take a bus from there to Tel Aviv. The taxi stand is desolated though, a woman tells me that the taxis have stopped running at four o’clock already.

Every disadvantage has its advantage though. If I really cannot go to Tel Aviv, I will have to stay somewhere around here. Which would give me a bit more time with Lisa and her family. Just at the point were Lisa tells me that she could ask her mom if I can stay over at their place if there is no public transport running, a handsome Druze stops in front of me with his beautiful black Beatle. And asks if he can give me a lift. He speaks well English, just like Lisa, but unlike most of the people here. And wants to drop me off at a little city in the neighbourhood, from where I can take a bus straight to Tel Aviv. It’s not that he needs to go there, but he has time and is more than happy to bring me. I wish in Holland everybody was that nice....

Driving off in his stylishly pimped Beatle, waving goodbye to Lisa, her shop, her aunt’s restaurant and her whole family, he tells me about all the travels he has made in the world. And I hear myself thinking. Isn’t it a stereotype that this type of traditional tribes is usually relatively poor? Looking at Lisa and my driver this all does not seem to be true. They are working hard, but doing well. Another presumption is ready for the waste basket... Maybe it is really time to let go of all my presumptions and to start to realise these people are different in every way, than any regular religious group. And that my prejudices suck big time.

Just like he promised, my driver drops me of at the bus stop. I am back in the real world. The Beatle and its beautiful driver take off. Leaving me behind with the feeling of discovering a beautiful pearl, something hidden in this country that is thorn apart by war for ages. While the Arabs and the Jews are the ones that you always see on television, fighting with each other, there is a community here that does respect both parties. A community that is accepted by both parties to be their friend, almost as if they are one of them. A community that lives in peace and harmony, trying to combine tradition and modern society as well as they can. My thoughts go back to that one night in Petra, together with the Jordan hostel owner, the four Jewish Israelis and the Druze. And the party we had because of the Druze being an intermediary between the two groups. Who knows, could they maybe be the missing key to help the other two communities to get closer together.

One day later I am in an internet cafe on the MSN. And am being added by someone with a picture of Ricky Iglesias. For a moment I thing some hot guy is trying to get in contact with me. After accepting I see it ´s Lisa. She wants to let me know –in perfect English- how cool it was for her to meet me. And how happy she is that I came to visit her and her hometown. Paulo Coelho was right. Sometimes you just have to pick up a sign and go right to get further in life.