MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) — High in the mountains of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the town of Majdal Shams is home to members of one of the Middle East’s most insular religious minorities: the Druze.
With its roots in 10th century Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, the roughly 1 million-strong minority is spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights.
Around 25,000 live in the Golan Heights, a rocky plateau seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s 1981 annexation of the area is recognized only by the United States, with the rest of the world considering it occupied Syrian territory.
Most Druze religious practices are shrouded in secrecy, with outsiders not allowed to convert. Only glimpses are visible: women wearing traditional flowing white headscarves; men with round white hats and flowing beards.
Although Israeli citizenship is open for the Druze of the Golan Heights, most have opted not to take it, though they have residency rights.
They closely maintain their Druze identity and traditions. The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad a week ago saw people take to the streets in Majdal Shams to celebrate Assad’s ouster, with the red, yellow, blue, white and green Druze flag featuring as prominently as the rebel Syrian green, white and black flag with three red stars.
As the region is riven once more by upheaval and fighting, evidence of the 1967 war is still clear to see, with old trenches and abandoned tanks. A security fence, topped by coils of barbed wire, now runs along the outskirts of the town, across a field from the nearby Alpha Line.
The current wars have not left Majdal Shams unscathed either. On Oct. 8, 2023, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began attacking Israel in solidarity with Hamas’...
