The Israel Defense Force soldier killed Sunday near the border with Lebanon was a Bedouin scout who volunteered for the army at the age of 18. Being an Arab, he was exempt from compulsory military service.
Sgt. Maj. Hassin Dib Maktaren, 33, was killed early Sunday in a gun battle with terrorists attempting to infiltrate into Israel from southern Lebanon. Maktaren killed two of them before he was fatally shot by a third terrorist, who had been concealed.
His death demonstrated a side to Arab-Jewish relations in Israel that has been obscured by the Palestinian uprising and its daily dose of hatred and violence.
Maktaren belonged to the Shibli tribe of Bedouins, who live on the slopes of Mount Tabor in Galilee, not far from such veteran Jewish settlements as Kfar Tavor and the Kaduri agricultural school.
He was married, without children. News of his death was brought first to his mother, Diba Maktaren.
A Bedouin officer of the IDF, assigned the unhappy task, came to the village at about noon Sunday to seek out the elderly mother. He said nothing — just looked into her eyes and nodded.
“My son is gone,” the woman said, kissing the officer’s hand.
Maktaren’s brother, Awad, sighed and said, “Everything is from God.”
About 2,300 people live in Shibli. Most earn their living working in the fields of neighboring Jewish villages. Their own quaint town has become a tourist attraction.
HAD BEEN OFF DUTY
But the Bedouin way of life has changed since they became citizens of Israel. No longer nomads, they have exchanged their tents for brick houses. Instead of tending sheep or goats, they cultivate crops.
The young men also join the army. Because they are instinctively excellent trackers, they often volunteer to be scouts, a dangerous assignment, as demonstrated by Maktaren’s fate.
Maktaren was ahead of his patrol, examining a breach in the border fence, just before his fatal encounter with the terrorists.
He need not have been there. Maktaren was off duty over the weekend. He was at home on Saturday when an army friend mentioned that another Bedouin tracker was ill. Maktaren put on his uniform and volunteered as a replacement.
“It was written somewhere that Hassin had to die,” said Ali Shibli, mayor of the town. “His death was not caused because he was on a risky mission. He is yet another victim of the lack of peace in our area,” the mayor said.
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