A new initiative by
Israel's government and a
Greek Orthodox priest to persuade more Christians to enlist in the
Israeli army has set off an emotional debate about identity among
Christian Arabs, a tiny minority within Israel.
Christian Arabs have historically viewed themselves as part of the
Palestinian people and considered service in the army as taboo.
But that is not the case for one of the volunteers,
Captain Arin Shaabi, a 28-year-old
Christian from
Nazareth, in northern Israel - the town of
Jesus' boyhood and the centre of
Arab Christian life in Israel.
She enlisted in
2010, after completing her law studies.
Shaabi's parents are divorced and a few months after signing up, she joined her mother
Dina in
Upper Nazareth, a predominantly
Jewish city of 50-thousand built on a hill overlooking Nazareth.
Since
2011, she's been a prosecutor in a
West Bank military court, in the thick of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Shaabi identifies as a Christian and an
Israeli, with "
Palestinian roots".
She said she helps defend the
Holy Land and isn't troubled by prosecuting
Palestinians on security charges often linked to
Palestinian nationalism.
"As a
Christian, I believe that we were born human beings and that includes certain obligations to our land and to our country, and this is the promised land and I think that we have to serve it and take care of it.
Do I have any Palestinian roots or things like that?
Yes, I have," Shaabi said.
She's paid a personal price, including harassment in Nazareth, a city of 80-thousand people, 70 percent of them Muslims.
An assailant once threw a rock at her car.
"When I first started going to the army, it was hard for people to accept me in a uniform, wearing a uniform, and there were some hostilities like people asking and once they threw a rock on my car" said Shaabi.
With the community's fate possibly at stake, tempers have flared and each side has accused the other of using scare tactics and incitement.
Father Gabriel Nadaf, the priest promoting enlistment, believes that Christians must serve in the army if they want to integrate into
Israeli society and win access to jobs.
An outspoken opponent of enlistment to the
Israeli military, Azmi
Hakim, head of the Greek Orthodox council in Nazareth, told
The Associated Press that Israel doesn't need more soldiers.
He said the real motive is to divide and weaken Israel's
Arab community of 1.7 (m) million, or nearly 21 percent of a population, made up of Muslims, Christians and Druze, followers of an offshoot of
Islam.
"There is a movement now, and there is some leaders that are trying to push the young
Christian people to join the occupation army, not the defence army, but I think that until now they are not succeeding," said Hakim.
According to Hakim, a majority of Christians oppose army service.
"
We are 100 percent against this violence and this terrorism that the followers of the recruitment campaign and the followers of the Israeli administration are trying to promote," said
Salah Shehade, a Christian resident of Nazareth, interviewed as his town was being decorated for
Christmas.
"We are part of the Palestinian people and can't be separated," Shehade said, underlining his opinion that the call to join the Israeli army comes against the identity of the Christian Arabs.
Hakim stressed the same concept.
"We belong to the Palestinian people, and all the time my state, my Israeli country is fighting against my people. I will not let my children take the Israeli weapon and shoot my people off," he said.
The numbers of Christians volunteering for the army has remained relatively steady at several dozens a year, according to the Israeli army.
Of Israel's
Arabs, about 128-thousand, or less than 10 percent, are Christians.
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- published: 31 Jul 2015
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