About 1,700 Bedouin Muslims currently serve in the Israeli army
They say they are being patriotic but other Arabs believe they are traitors
Bedouin Arabs have fought alongside Israel since the State was formed
By JAKE WALLIS SIMONS IN KA’ABIYA, ISRAEL, FOR MAIL-ON-LINE
PUBLISHED: 05:29 EST, 22 December 2015 |
In a small, rural cemetery in northern Israel, 25-year-old Mohammad Ka’abiyah brushes some leaves carefully from a headstone.
Like any Israeli graveyard, a number of those buried were killed in action. But here – as the numerous crescents and pieces of Arabic calligraphy indicate – all of the fallen soldiers were Muslim.
‘If you told this story to people from Europe or the United States, or even other Arabs from the Middle East, they wouldn’t believe it,’ Ka’abiyah tells MailOnline. ‘But it’s really a true situation.’
Meet Mohammad Ka’abiya the Muslim Arab who fought for Israel