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Israeli Arabs Call for Passive Resistance to Government Land Expropriations

June 1, 1976
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An Israeli Arab group announced over the weekend that it would adopt tactics of passive resistance to government expropriation of Arab lands in Galilee and that it would take its case to world opinion abroad. The Communist-sponsored Committee for the Defense of Arab Lands said it would dispatch representatives to foreign countries to explain its position.

The plan of action adopted at a meeting of Arab notables in Nazareth calls for return of expropriation notices to the government and sitting down in front of advancing bull-dozers if the government attempts to clear the land. The committee is affiliated with the pro-Moscow Rakah Communist faction. Another left-wing group, Moked, held a meeting in Nazareth on the same subject but managed to attract only 500 Arabs from nearby villages and a handful of Jewish supporters.

Meanwhile a recently formed Druze Zionist group has called for total integration of the Druze community into Israeli life. As a first step they want special Druze units in the army abolished and Druze soldiers integrated with other Israeli army units. “We have a treaty with the Jews and we are Israelis for better or worse,” a spokesman for the group said. The Druze, a non-Arab Moslem sect, have supported Israel since its inception.

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