The Druze Minority in the Israeli Military: Traditionalizing an Ethnic Policing Role

The cooptation of minorities to police other minorities is an imperial phenomenon not usually associated with the modern developed state. Yet the Druze minority within Israel's security structure is increasingly playing such a policing role over the Palestinians. The reasons for the gravitation of Druze into policing are partially economic, but so are they due to deliberate policies of state ethnicization of the Druze. What is different from the past is that this specialization is taking place within a democracy. The Druze, while they benefit instrumentally from their policing function, are also upset by its ramifications for Druze-Muslim Arab relations. They attempt to resolve this dilemma by voting for center-left parties which seek a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a "land for peace" basis, while at the same time demanding expanding economic opportunities.