The construction of Druze ethnicity: Druze in Israel between state policy and Palestinian Arab nationalism

Eric Hobsbawm argues that recently created nations in the Middle East, such as Israel or Jordan, must be novel. In most instances, these new nations and nationalism that goes along with them have been constructed through what Hobsbawm refers to as "invented traditions." This thesis will build on Hobsbawm's concept of "invented traditions," as well as add one additional but essential national building tool especially in the Middle East, which is the military tradition. These traditions are used by the state of Israel to create a sense of shared identity. These "invented traditions" not only worked to cement together an Israeli Jewish sense of identity, they were also utilized to create a sub national identity for the Druze. The state of Israel, with the cooperation of the Druze elites, has attempted, with some success, to construct through its policies an ethnic identity for the Druze separate from their Arab identity. The policy of the state of Israel was to encourage the Druze to distinguish themselves by facilitating their imagining of a Druze ethnic identity. Israeli and Druze elites fashioned this identity through distinct military, economic, and cultural policies for the Druze. The need for inventing a sub-national identity for the Druze arose from the state's interest in dividing the Arabs along sectarian lines, in order to facilitate their control. Thus the Druze were no longer just a different sect but also ethnically differentiated from Arabs. This is an example of a classic strategy that has been used by colonial states to subdue native populations, commonly known as "divide and conquer." What is perhaps unique to the Israeli situation is how the state tried to simultaneously encourage ethnic nationalism as well as civic nationalism among the Druze in Israel. In other words, the state encouraged Druze ethnic nationalism to thwart Palestinian Arab national aspirations, while cultivating Israeli civic nationalism among the Druze, most notably through their military service. This case study demonstrates that these two nationalisms are not necessarily mutually exclusive.