Israeli soldiers have complained that Arabs and certain Druze employed by the army to build fortifications pose a possible security risk because secret aspects of security are exposed to them in the course of their work. The soldiers have reportedly brought the matter to the attention of the military authorities and the Chief of Staff but so far, they say, no action has been taken.
The soldiers, reservists, were said to have been surprised to find Arabs from the administered territories working on fortification projects and Druze so employed on the Golan Heights, Although Israeli Druze, who are non-Arab Moslems, are a loyal element and serve in the armed forces, Golan Heights Druze who lived under Syrian jurisdiction before the 1967 Six-Day War are suspect, Several of them have been arrested and imprisoned for passing military information to the Syrians, Only last week a military tribunal in Majdal Shams on the slopes of Mt, Hermon sentenced a local Druze, Majid Abu-Jaber, 27, to seven years’ imprisonment for spying against Israel.
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