Druzes are an ethnic-Arabic-speaking group in Israel: (Arabid: الدروز في اسرائيل) in the Carmel, the Galilee, and the Golan Heights, which maintain a unique religion that split from Shiite Islam in the 11th century.
At the end of 2018, there were approximately 143,000 Druze among the permanent residents of Israel, of which approximately 120,000 were Israeli citizens, and the rest were residents of the Golan Heights, most of whom
refuse to receive Israeli citizenship.
The localities with the largest number of Druze were Dalit al-Carmel (16.7 thousand), Yarka (16.4 thousand) Ma’ar (12.9 thousand) and Beit Jann (11.7 thousand).
The Druze are Arabic speakers in their own special dialect, similar to the Syrian dialects of Arabic.
Almost all Druze live in the geographical area that includes Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel.
Their settlement is largely mountainous, in order to be preserved from a hostile population. Most of them are Syrian citizens, but there is a large Druze community among the citizens of Lebanon.
The Druze have an independent religion, the main ones of which are kept secret and originated in a division from Shiite Islam about a thousand years ago in Egypt.
The Druze attribute themselves to the prophet Jethro and refuse to accept new members into their ranks. They define themselves as a separate unique witness and so does the law in Israel.
Linguistically Arabic-speaking Druze Similar to Arabs, Muslims and Christians, most Druze in Israel define themselves as Arabs.
