Abbas calls Druze 'purest' of all Arabs
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made overtures toward Druze leaders during a meeting in Ramallah in an effort to warm the community's relationship with the rest of the Palestinian population.
![ISRAEL-POLITICS/LAW-PROTEST Leaders from the Druze minority together with others take part in a rally to protest against Jewish nation-state law in Rabin square in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 4, 2018. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC1149638BE0](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2019/12/RTX6DY9M.jpg/RTX6DY9M.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=cX77FUV6)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a long and apparently successful meeting Nov. 23 in Ramallah with leading members of the Druze community in Israel, telling the small religiously-based community that they are the “purest of all Arabs” for their attachment to their Arab origins and refusal to marry outside their community.
The Druze's Arab nationality is undergoing a rennaissance. Despite serving in the Israeli army, they felt betrayed in July 2018, when the Israeli Knesset passed the nationality law making all non-Jewish citizens in Israel second-class citizens.