Editing Druze (section)

== Modern history ==
In [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], [[Israel]], and [[Jordan]], the Druzites have official recognition as a separate religious community with its own religious court system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Michael J. |author1-link=Michael Totten |title=Tower of the Sun: Stories from the Middle East and North Africa |date=2014 |publisher=Belmont Estate Books |isbn=978-0-692-29753-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qyWzrQEACAAJ}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2015}}<ref name=lexicorient>{{cite web |url=http://lexicorient.com/e.o/druze.htm |title=Druze |first=Tore |last=Kjeilen |access-date=31 May 2007 |archive-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001104426/http://lexicorient.com/e.o/druze.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although most Druze no longer consider themselves Muslim, [[Al Azhar]] of [[Egypt]] recognized them in 1959 as one of the [[Islamic schools and branches|Islamic sects]] in the [[Al-Azhar Shia Fatwa]] due to political reasons, as [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] saw it as a tool to spread his appeal and influence across the entire [[Arab world]].<ref>{{bulleted list|
|{{cite news |title=Reforming Islam in Egypt |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=18 February 2017 |url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21717081-sisi-versus-sheikhs-reforming-islam-egypt}}
|{{harvnb|Nisan|2015|p=}}{{page needed|date=October 2024}}
|{{harvnb|Kayyali|2006|p=}}{{page needed|date=October 2024}}
|{{cite book |title=Global Security Watch – Lebanon: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook |last=Sorenson |first=David |date=2009 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-0-313-36579-9}}
|{{cite book |title=Islam: Questions And Answers – Schools of Thought, Religions and Sects |last=Abdul-Rahman |first=Muhammed Saed |date=2003 |publisher=AMSA Publication Ltd. |isbn=5-551-29049-2}}
}}</ref>

The Druze religion does not endorse separatism, and urges blending with the communities they reside in; the Druze have often done so to avoid persecution. Yet the Druze also have a history of resistance to occupying powers, and they have at times enjoyed more freedom than most other groups living in the [[Levant]].<ref name=lexicorient />

=== In Syria ===
{{Main|Druze in Syria}}
<!--This section requires citations and sourced information from reliable 3rd party sources. Unsourced information may be challenged and removed. A copy/edit may be required to clean up potential POV statements. -->
[[File:Druze warriors.jpg|thumb|left|Druze warriors preparing to go to battle with [[Sultan Pasha al-Atrash]] in 1925]]
In Syria, most Druzites live in the [[Jebel al-Druze]], a rugged and mountainous region in the southwest of the country, which is more than 90 percent Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are exclusively so.<ref name=landis>{{cite web |url=http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Joshua_Landis_Druze_and_Shishakli.htm |title=Shishakli and the Druzes: Integration and intransigence |first=Joshua |last=Landis |work=The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |year=1998 |pages=369–396 |editor1-first=T. |editor1-last=Philipp |editor2-first=B. |editor2-last=Schäbler}}</ref>{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}} Other notable communities live in the [[Harim Mountains]], the [[Damascus]] suburb of [[Jaramana]], and on the southeast slopes of [[Mount Hermon]]. A large Syrian Druze community historically lived in the [[Golan Heights]], but following wars with Israel in [[Six-Day War|1967]] and [[Yom Kippur War|1973]], many of these Druze fled to other parts of Syria; most of those who remained live in a handful of villages in the disputed zone, while only a few live in the narrow remnant of [[Quneitra Governorate]] that is still under effective Syrian control.

[[File:Druzeindependance1925.jpg|thumb|right|Druze celebrating their independence in 1925]]
The Druze always played a far more important role in Syrian politics than its comparatively small population would suggest. With a community of little more than 100,000 in 1949, or roughly three percent of the Syrian population, the Druze of Syria's southwestern mountains constituted a potent force in Syrian politics and played a leading role in the nationalist struggle against the [[France|French]]. Under the military leadership of [[Sultan Pasha al-Atrash]], the Druze provided much of the military force behind the [[Great Syrian Revolt|Syrian Revolution]] of 1925–27. In 1945, Amir Hasan al-Atrash, the paramount political leader of the [[Jabal el Druze (state)|Jebel al-Druze]], led the Druze military units in a successful revolt against the French, making the Jebel al-Druze the first and only region in Syria to liberate itself from French rule without [[United Kingdom|British]] assistance. At independence the Druze, made confident by their successes, expected that Damascus would reward them for their many sacrifices on the battlefield. They demanded to keep their autonomous administration and many political privileges accorded them by the French and sought generous economic assistance from the newly independent government.<ref name=landis />{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}

[[File:SyrianDouroze.jpg|thumb|left|Druze leaders meeting in [[Jebel al-Druze]], Syria, 1926]]
When a local paper in 1945 reported that [[President of Syria|President]] [[Shukri al-Quwatli]] (1943–49) had called the Druze a "dangerous minority", Sultan Pasha al-Atrash flew into a rage and demanded a public retraction. If it were not forthcoming, he announced, the Druze would indeed become "dangerous", and a force of 4,000 Druze warriors would "occupy the city of Damascus". Quwwatli could not dismiss Sultan Pasha's threat. The military balance of power in Syria was tilted in favor of the Druze, at least until the military build up during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948 War in Palestine]]. One advisor to the Syrian Defense Department warned in 1946 that the [[Syrian Army|Syrian army]] was "useless", and that the Druze could "take Damascus and capture the present leaders in a breeze".<ref name=landis />{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}

During the four years of [[Adib Shishakli]]'s rule in Syria (December 1949 to February 1954) (on 25 August 1952: [[Adib al-Shishakli]] created the [[Arab Liberation Movement]] (ALM), a progressive party with [[pan-Arabist]] and socialist views),<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.syrianhistory.com/node/3379 |title=Syrian History}}</ref> the Druze community was subjected to a heavy attack by the Syrian government. Shishakli believed that among his many opponents in Syria, the Druze were the most potentially dangerous, and he was determined to crush them. He frequently proclaimed: "My enemies are like a serpent: The head is the Jebel al-Druze, the stomach [[Homs]], and the tail [[Aleppo]]. If I crush the head, the serpent will die." Shishakli dispatched 10,000 regular troops to occupy the Jebel al-Druze. Several towns were bombarded with heavy weapons, killing scores of civilians and destroying many houses. According to Druze accounts, Shishakli encouraged neighboring [[Bedouin]] tribes to plunder the defenseless population and allowed his own troops to run amok.<ref name = landis />{{Rp|needed =yes|date=April 2012}}

Shishakli launched a brutal campaign to defame the Druze for their religion and politics. He accused the entire community of treason, at times claiming they were in the employ of the British and [[Hashemite|Hashimites]], at others that they were fighting for [[Israel]] against the [[Arabs]]. He even produced a cache of Israeli weapons allegedly discovered in the Jabal. Even more painful for the Druze community was his publication of "falsified Druze religious texts" and false testimonials ascribed to leading Druze sheikhs designed to stir up sectarian hatred. This propaganda also was broadcast in the Arab world, mainly [[Egypt]]. Shishakli was assassinated in [[Brazil]] on 27 September 1964 by a Druze seeking revenge for Shishakli's bombardment of the Jebel al-Druze.<ref name=landis />{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 38786 Sultan Al-Atrash monument in Majdal Shams.JPG|thumb|Sculpture of [[Sultan al-Atrash]] in [[Majdal Shams]]]]
He forcibly integrated minorities into the national Syrian social structure, his "Syrianization" of [[Alawite]] and Druze territories had to be accomplished in part using violence. To this end, al-Shishakli encouraged the stigmatization of minorities. He saw minority demands as tantamount to treason. His increasingly chauvinistic notions of [[Arab nationalism]] were predicated on the denial that "minorities" existed in Syria.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecTTlytIjswC&pg=PA41 |title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society |publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-89211-4 |date=2008 }}</ref>{{Rp|needed=yes|date=April 2012}}

After the Shishakli's military campaign, the Druze community lost much of its political influence, but many Druze military officers played important roles in the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath]] government currently ruling Syria.<ref name=landis />{{Rp| needed =yes|date=April 2012}}

In 1967, a community of Druze in the Golan Heights came under Israeli control, today numbering 23,000 (in 2019).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2018/2.%20shnatonpopulation/st02_17.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120162056/https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2018/2.%20shnatonpopulation/st02_17.pdf |archive-date=2019-11-20 |url-status=live|title=Localities (1) and Population, by Population Group, District, Sub-District and Natural Region|date=2017-12-31|website=CBS Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/04/israel-settlements-golan-heights-trump-syrians.html|title=Trump paves way for Israel to expand settlements in Golan|last=Melhem|first=Ahmad|date=2019-04-11|website=Al-Monitor|language=en|access-date=2019-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/middleeast/netanyahu-golan-heights-trump.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/middleeast/netanyahu-golan-heights-trump.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|title=Netanyahu Seeks to Name a Golan Heights Settlement for President Trump|last=Kershner|first=Isabel|date=2019-04-23|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-05-09|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Before the [[Syrian civil war]], it was estimated that around 700,000 Druze lived in Syria in 2010, constituting about 3% of the population.<ref name="washingtoninstitute.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/druze-and-assad-strategic-bedfellows|title=The Druze and Assad: Strategic Bedfellows|website=The Washington Institute|access-date=4 May 2023|archive-date=25 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925011935/https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-druze-and-assad-strategic-bedfellows|url-status=live}}</ref> Of these, approximately 337,500 resided in the [[Suwayda Governorate]], which had a Druze majority of around 90% and a significant Christian minority.<ref>{{cite book|title=Atlas of the Near East: State Formation and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1918–2010|last=Balanche |first=Fabrice|year=2017|isbn=9789004345188|page=27|publisher=Brill|quote=...comprised 50,328 inhabitants, of whom 85 per cent were Druze, and it integrated Christian communities (7,000 people) who had long lived in these mountains in harmony with the Druze.}}</ref><ref name="washingtoninstitute.org"/> This region accounted for 48.2% of the total Druze population in Syria.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-13505.html|title=Syria – Sunnis|website=www.country-data.com|access-date=12 May 2020|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023233708/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-13505.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, about 250,000 Druze, or 35.7% of the total Druze population, lived in [[Damascus]] and its surrounding areas, including [[Jaramana]], [[Sahnaya]], and [[Jdeidat Artouz]]. Approximately 30,000 Druze lived on the eastern side of [[Mount Hermon]], while around 25,000 Druze were spread across 14 villages in [[Jabal al-Summaq]] in [[Idlib Governorate]].<ref name="washingtoninstitute.org"/>

The [[Qalb Loze massacre]] was a reported massacre of Syrian Druze on 10 June 2015 in the village of [[Qalb Loze]] in Syria's northwestern [[Idlib Governorate]] in which 20–24 Druze were killed. On 25 July 2018, a group of [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIS]]-affiliated attackers entered the Druze city of [[Suwayda]] and initiated a [[2018 As-Suwayda attacks|series of gunfights and suicide bombings]] on its streets, killing at least 258 people, the vast majority of them civilians.<ref name="cbs">{{cite news |title=ISIS kidnaps dozens of women, girls in deadly Syria raids |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-kidnap-women-girls-attacks-syria-sweida-druze-community-al-shobki/ |work=CBS News |date=30 July 2018}}</ref>

Several Druze militias fought in the Syrian civil war. These included [[Jaysh al-Muwahhidin]] which largely engaged in defensive war, though were also described as supporters of [[Bashar al-Assad]] and the Ba'athist government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-11-13 |title=The Druze Militias of Southern Syria |url=https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/druze-militias-southern-syria/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Syria Comment}}</ref> The Druze [[Al-Jabal Brigade]] played a major role in the [[2024 Syrian opposition offensives]], which toppled the Ba'athists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=المعارضة المسلحة تصل السويداء وتسيطر على مقرات أمنية (فيديو) {{!}} إرم نيوز |url=https://www.eremnews.com/news/arab-world/jgf1ru2 |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.eremnews.com |language=ar}}</ref>

=== In Lebanon ===
{{Main|Druze in Lebanon}}
[[File:Prophet Job Shrine.jpg|thumb|[[Job (Bible)|Prophet Job]] shrine in [[Niha, Chouf|Niha village]] in the [[Chouf]] region of Lebanon.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religious Diversity Today: Experiencing Religion in the Contemporary World [3 volumes]: Experiencing Religion in the Contemporary World |first=Anastasia |last=Panagakos |year=2015 |isbn=9781440833328 |page=99 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |quote=}}</ref>]]
[[File:Hasbaya 1967.webm|thumb|A market in a Lebanese Druze town called [[Hasbaya]], 1967]]
The Druzite community in Lebanon played an important role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon,<ref name="Deeb 2013">{{cite book |title=Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah: The Unholy Alliance and Its War on Lebanon |first=Marius |last=Deeb |year=2013 |isbn=9780817916664 |publisher=Hoover Press |quote=the Maronites and the Druze, who founded Lebanon in the early eighteenth century.}}</ref> and even though they are a minority they play an important role in the Lebanese political scene. Before and during the [[Lebanese Civil War]] (1975–90), the Druze were in favor of [[Pan-Arabism]] and [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian resistance]] represented by the [[PLO]]. Most of the community supported the [[Progressive Socialist Party]] formed by their leader [[Kamal Jumblatt]] and they fought alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties against the [[Lebanese Front]] that was mainly constituted of [[Christians]]. At the time, the Lebanese government and economy were running under the significant influence of [[elite]]s within the [[Lebanese Maronite Christians|Maronite Christian community]].<ref>[[Marcia C. Inhorn|Inhorn, Marcia C.]], and Soraya Tremayne. 2012. ''Islam and Assisted Reproductive Technologies''. p. 238.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6932786.stm |title=Who are the Maronites? |work=[[BBC News]] |date=6 August 2007}}</ref> After the assassination of [[Kamal Jumblatt]] on 16 March 1977, his son [[Walid Jumblatt]] took the leadership of the party and played an important role in preserving his father's legacy after winning the [[Mountain War]] and sustained the existence of the Druze community during the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.

In August 2001, [[Maronite Christians in Lebanon|Maronite Catholic]] [[Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir|Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir]] toured the predominantly Druze [[Chouf District|Chouf region]] of [[Mount Lebanon]] and visited [[Mukhtara]], the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic reconciliation between [[Maronites]] and Druze, who had fought a bloody war in 1983–1984, but underscored the fact that the banner of Lebanese sovereignty had broad multi-confessional appeal<ref>{{Citation|publisher=Meib |url=http://www.meib.org/articles/0305_ld.htm |format=dossier |title=Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir |date=May 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030611090352/http://meib.org/articles/0305_ld.htm |archive-date=11 June 2003}}</ref> and was a cornerstone for the [[Cedar Revolution]] in 2005. Jumblatt's post-2005 position diverged sharply from the tradition of his family. He also accused [[Damascus]] of being behind the 1977 assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, expressing for the first time what many knew he privately suspected. The [[BBC]] describes Jumblatt as "the leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty".<ref name=bbc>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4348129.stm|title=Who's who in Lebanon|work=BBC News|date=14 March 2005|access-date=13 August 2011}}</ref> The second largest political party supported by Druze is the [[Lebanese Democratic Party]] led by [[Talal Arslan|Prince Talal Arslan]], the son of Lebanese independence hero [[Emir Majid Arslan II|Emir Majid Arslan]].

The Druze community is primarily located in the rural and mountainous regions to the east and south of Beirut.<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/256489.pdf Lebanon 2015 International Religious Freedom Report] U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 2019-04-23.</ref> They represent approximately 5.2 percent of Lebanon's population and are spread across 136 villages in areas such as [[Hasbaya District|Hasbaya]], [[Rashaya District|Rashaya]], [[Chouf District|Chouf]], [[Chouf District|Aley]], [[Marjeyoun District|Marjeyoun]] and [[Beirut]]. The Druze make up the majority in [[Aley]], [[Baakleen]], [[Hasbaya]] and [[Rashaya]]. Specifically, they constitute over half of the population in the [[Aley District]], about a third in the [[Rashaya District]], and around a quarter in both the [[Chouf]] and [[Matn District]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lebanon in Strife: Student Preludes to the Civil War |last=Barakat |first=Halim |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-292-73981-9|publisher=University of Texas Press}}</ref>

=== In Israel===
{{Main|Druze in Israel}}{{See also|1982 Golan Heights Druze general strike}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 1337 Druze scouts at jethro holy place צופים דרוזים בקבר יתרו.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Israeli Druze]] Scouts march to Jethro's tomb. Today, thousands of Israeli Druze belong to such "Druze Zionist" movements.<ref name="Eli Ashkenazi">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1054873 |script-title=he:הרצל והתקווה בחגיגות 30 לתנועה הדרוזית הציונית |language=he |trans-title=Herzl and hope in celebrating 30 (years of the) Druze Zionist movement |author=Eli Ashkenazi |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |date=3 November 2005 |access-date=14 October 2014}}</ref>]]
The Druzites form a religious minority in [[Israel]] of more than 100,000, mostly residing in the north of the country.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/druze.html |contribution=The Druze |title=Jewish virtual library |access-date =23 January 2012}}</ref> In 2004, there were 102,000 Druze living in the country.{{sfn|Amara|Schnell|2004}} In 2010, the population of Israeli Druze citizens grew to over 125,000. At the end of 2018, there were 143,000 in Israel and the [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli-occupied]] portion of the Golan Heights.<ref name="CBS13"/> Most [[Israeli Druze]] identify ethnically as Arabs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel's Religiously Divided Society|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2016/03/08/israels-religiously-divided-society/|publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=8 December 2017|quote=Virtually all Muslims (99%) and Christians (96%) surveyed in Israel identify as Arab. A somewhat smaller share of Druze (71%) say they are ethnically Arab. Other Druze respondents identify their ethnicity as "Other," "Druze" or "Druze-Arab."|date=2016-03-08}}</ref> Today, thousands of Israeli Druze belong to "Druze [[Zionism|Zionist]]" movements.<ref name="Eli Ashkenazi" />

According to the Israeli [[Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel)|Central Bureau of Statistics]] census in 2020, the Druze make up about 7.6% of the [[Arab citizens of Israel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/122/11_19_122b.pdf|title=The Druze population in Israel|date=24 April 2020|publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel)}}</ref> By the end of 2019, around 81% of the Israeli Druze population resided in the [[Northern District (Israel)|Northern District]], while 19% were in the [[Haifa District]]. The largest Druze communities are found in [[Daliyat al-Karmel]] and [[Yirka]] (also known as Yarka).<ref name="The Druze Population of Israel">[https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2019/122/11_19_122b.pdf The Druze Population of Israel]</ref> The Druze live in 19 towns and villages scattered across the mountaintops in northern Israel, either in exclusively Druze areas or in mixed communities with [[Christianity in Israel|Christians]] and [[Islam in Israel|Muslims]].<ref name="The Druze Population of Israel"/>

The Galilean Druze and Druze of the [[Haifa]] region received Israeli citizenship automatically in 1948. After Israel captured the [[Golan Heights]] from Syria in 1967 and annexed it to Israel in 1981, the [[Druze in Israel#Status and position of Golan Heights Druze|Druze of the Golan Heights]] were offered full Israeli citizenship under the [[Golan Heights Law]]. Most declined Israeli citizenship and retain [[Syria]]n citizenship and identity and are treated as permanent residents of Israel.<ref name="Scott Wilson">{{cite news|title=Golan Heights Land, Lifestyle Lure Settlers|author=Scott Wilson|date=30 October 2006|access-date=6 May 2007|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/29/AR2006102900926.html | newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> As of 2011, fewer than 10% of the Druze population in the Golan Heights had accepted Israeli citizenship.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/world/middleeast/22golan.html?_r=1|title=In the Golan Heights, Anxious Eyes Look East|author=Isabel Kershner|author-link=Isabel Kershner|date=2011-05-22|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2012-01-23}}</ref>

In 1957, the Israeli government designated the Druze a distinct religious community at the request of its communal leaders.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Israeli Druze Community in Transition: Between Tradition and Modernity |first1=Randa Khair |last1=Abbas |first2=Deborah |last2=Court |year=2011 |isbn=9781527567399 |page=11 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |quote=In 1957, the Druze were declared a religious community in Israel.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Good Arabs: The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 1948–1967 |first=Hillel |last=Cohen |year=2015 |isbn=9780520944886 |page=167 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |quote=In 1957, the Druze were recognized as a distinct religious confession.}}</ref> The Druze are [[Arabic]]-speaking citizens of Israel and serve in the [[Israel Defense Forces]], just as most citizens do in Israel. Members of the community have attained top positions in Israeli politics and public service.<ref name="theisraelproject1">{{Citation |url=http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ewJXKcOUJlIaG&b=7721235&ct=11546191#.TvwjLdXLa0M |archive-date=14 September 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914091649/http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ewJXKcOUJlIaG&b=7721235&ct=11546191%23.TvwjLdXLa0M |url-status=dead |title=Religious Freedoms: Druze |publisher=The Israel project |access-date=23 January 2012}}</ref> The number of Druze parliament members usually exceeds their proportion in the Israeli population, and they are integrated within several political parties.

Some scholars maintain that Israel has tried to separate the Druze from other Arab communities, and that the effort has influenced the way Israel's Druze perceive their modern identity.<ref name="Firro 1999 9, 171"/><ref name="Weingrod 1985 259–279"/> Survey data suggests that Israeli Druze prioritize their identity first as Druze (religiously), second as Arabs (culturally and ethnically), and third as Israelis (citizenship-wise).<ref name="Nili2019"/> A small minority of them identify as [[Palestinians]], distinguishing them from the majority of other [[Arab citizens of Israel]], who predominantly identify as Palestinians.{{sfn|Amara|Schnell|2004}}

=== In Jordan ===
{{Main|Druze in Jordan}}

The Druzites form a religious minority in [[Jordan]] of around 32,000, mostly residing in the northwestern part of the country.<ref name="auto"/> The main areas where they live are [[Amman]], [[Azraq, Jordan|Azraq]], [[Zarqa]], [[Russiefa]], [[Umm Al-Quttein]], [[Aqaba]] and [[Mafraq]]. Druze settlement in Jordan began in 1918, when 22 Druze families left [[Jabal al-Druze]] for al-[[Azraq, Jordan|Azraq]] following the [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|withdrawal of the Turks]] from the region.<ref name= "Neil">{{cite book |last1=Faulkner |first1=Neil |title=Lawrence of Arabia's War: The Arabs, the British and the Remaking of the Middle East in WWI |date=2016 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |isbn= 9780300226393 |pages= 273, 367–368, 426}}</ref>

=== In the diaspora ===
[[Venezuela]] hosts the largest Druze communities outside the Middle East,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.juf.org/news/jerusalem.aspx?id=451177|title=Sending relief--and a message of inclusion and love—to our Druze sisters and brothers|date=6 April 2021|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref name="Khalifa 2013 loc=6-7">{{citation |last=Khalifa |first=Mustafa |year=2013 |title=The impossible partition of Syria |url=http://www.arab-reform.net/en/node/510 |journal=[[Arab Reform Initiative]] |pages=6–7}}</ref> estimated at 60,000 individuals.<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/> Most of them trace their ancestry back to Lebanon and Syria. More than 200,000 people from the [[Suwayda]] area hold Venezuelan citizenship, the majority of whom belong to the [[Druze people in Syria|Syria's Druze]] sect and immigrated to Venezuela in the past century.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chavez tells Israelis to disobey 'genocidal' govt |url=http://www.26sep.net/news_details.php?lng=english&sid=56858 |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=26 September News |date=September 2009 |quote=More than 200,000 people from the Sweida area carry Venezuelan citizenship and most are members of Syria's Druse sect, who immigrated to Venezuela in the past century. |archive-date=6 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006035102/http://www.26sep.net/news_details.php?lng=english&sid=56858 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Arab immigration to Venezuela started as early as the 19th and 20th centuries, with migrants primarily hailing from the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] provinces of [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. They settled predominantly in [[Caracas]], and have significantly influenced [[Venezuelan culture]], particularly in terms of [[Arabic food]] and music. Religiously, the [[Arab Venezuelans|Arab-Venezuelans]] community consists mainly of Druze and Christians, who are affiliated with the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodox Churches|Eastern Orthodox]] and [[Eastern Rite Catholic Churches]].<ref name="Paul S Rowe">{{cite book |title=Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East |first=Paul S. |last=Rowe |year=2018 |isbn=9781317233794 |page=352 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |quote=}}</ref> The early Druze migrants to [[Venezuela]] assimilated well into the local population, with some even converting [[Catholicism]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Being a Druze |first=Fuʼād |last=Isḥāq Khūrī |year=2009 |isbn=9781904850014 |page=7 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |quote=The early migrants tended to mix well with the local population in Venezuela. The Eastern Christians, regardless of the long-standing disagreements (to put it lightly) between the Catholic and Eastern Christian faiths, converted quickly, and even the Druze and Muslims converted to Catholicism}}</ref> Nevertheless, many retained a strong Druze and [[Arab identity]], along with adherence to Druze values. A prominent example of Druze influence in Venezuela is the former vice president, [[Tareck El Aissami]], who is of Druze descent.<ref name="Aamama" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Francisco |last=Toro |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/02/14/the-u-s-treasury-says-that-venezuelas-vice-president-is-a-drug-trafficker/ |title=The U.S. Treasury says that Venezuela's vice president is a drug trafficker |date=14 February 2017 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |quote=El Aissami is a member of Venezuela’s sizable Druze community. His father is Syrian, his mother Lebanese.}}</ref> Other notable Venezuelan figures of Druze origin include [[Haifa El Aissami]] and [[Tarek William Saab]].<ref name="time">{{Cite magazine |last=Padgett |first=Tim |date=18 January 2009 |title=Latin America Looks for a Fresh Start with Obama |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1871986,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X |access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref>

The [[United States]] is the second largest home of Druze communities outside the Middle East after Venezuela.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.juf.org/news/jerusalem.aspx?id=451177|title=Sending relief--and a message of inclusion and love—to our Druze sisters and brothers|date=April 6, 2021|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=November 22, 2021|archive-date=November 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115024250/https://www.juf.org/news/jerusalem.aspx?id=451177|url-status=live}}</ref> Estimates vary between about 30,000<ref name=":4">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-druze-future-20170731-story.html |title=Finding a life partner is hard enough. For those of the Druze faith, their future depends on it |date=27 August 2017 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=22 November 2021 |archive-date=22 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122142237/https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-druze-future-20170731-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and 50,000<ref name=":3" /> Druzes in the United States, with the largest concentration in [[Southern California]].<ref name=":4" /> American Druze are mostly of [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] and [[Syrian people|Syrian]] descent.<ref name=":4" />
Members of the Druze faith face the difficulty of finding a Druze partner and practicing [[endogamy]]; marriage outside the Druze faith is strongly discouraged according to the Druze doctrine. They also face the pressure of keeping the religion alive because many Druze immigrants to the [[United States]] converted to [[Protestantism]], becoming communicants of the [[Presbyterian]] or [[Methodist]] churches.<ref name="Kayyali-p.21">{{harvnb|Kayyali|2006|p=21}}: "Many of the Druze have chosen to deemphasize their ethnic identity, and some have officially converted to Christianity."</ref><ref name="Hobby 2011 232">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life |first=Jeneen |last=Hobby |year=2011 |isbn=9781414448916 |page=232 |publisher=[[University of Philadelphia Press]] |quote=US Druze settled in small towns and kept a low profile, joining Protestant churches (usually Presbyterian or Methodist) and often Americanizing their names...}}</ref>