Sheikh Jaber Muadi, a Knesset member representing the Arab Parties, urged the Arab governments today to desist from saber-rattling and threats against Israel. War, he said, had brought destruction and ruin to Arabs and might lead to their losing their sovereignty to the Soviet Union. “We have been living in the State of Israel for almost 25 years.” the 51-year-old Druze said at a reception hosted by President Zalman Shazar, “and we know that her leaders desire peace.” Officials of Israel’s Druze community attended the reception held to mark the Druze’s annual Feast of the Sacrifice. President Shazar re-emphasized the loyalty of the Druze to Israel by noting that 84 have died defending the country, seven of them in the last few months. The spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Amin Tarik, appealed to Lebanon and Syria to allow their Druze to make the pilgrimage to the tomb of the prophet Jethro, situated in the Galilee region, and to permit Israeli. Druze to visit their kinsmen and holy places there. He also voiced the hope that next year’s Feast of the Sacrifice will be celebrated in peacetime.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.