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Druze People (Israel)

Last modified: 2024-11-09 by martin karner
Keywords: druze | jebel druze | israel | sultan pasha | unidentified flag | magen david | star: 6 points (outlined) | star (faceted) |
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[Druze people (Israel)]     [Druze people (Israel)] images by Dov Gutterman and David Kendall


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Description

The Druze people are 400'000 living in Syria (mainly in the area of Jabal ad-Duruz – Druze Mountains), Lebanon and Israel and the shape of the flag is common to all of them. You may notice the former independent state of the Druze in Jabal ad-Duruz under the French in the 1920's. The flag has no fixed proportions and the items I examined varies from 2:3 to 8:11. Usually the 8:11 is used in Israel (possibly to ease production by using the same proportions as the Israeli flag).
Dov Gutterman, 1 October 1998

[Druze flag. Caption: "Photos of the dead are displayed in the mourning Druze town of Majdal Shams, north of the Golan Heights in northern Israel. 11 boys and girls and one toddler were killed in the explosion of a rocket launched Saturday by the Hezbollah terrorist organization from southern Lebanon directly at a football field. Majdal Shams, Jul 29, 2024. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS" (source)]

Square Variant with 5 Stripes

[Druze Flag, Square Variant with 5 Stripes] image by Dov Gutterman

During my visit of 2 October 2001 to Mas'ade, the only flags I spotted were Druze flags in 1:1 ratio. When I visited Peqi'in (Buqei'a) in the Galilee, I saw the same flag.
Dov Gutterman, 21 October 2001

Flag with five-coloured star

[Flag with five-coloured star (Israel)] image by António Martins

Zvi Ruder sent me some information from a report by Günter Mattern of Switzerland and Jarig Bakker translated it:

Lebanon – Druzes
Sheikh Bahshatti Gheith took his seat of honor in the Majlis, the parliamentary room, flanked by two 5-pointed stars, of which each point had a different color – blue, green, yellow, red, white. The 5 colours symbolize the 5 pillars of Islam. Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nr. 103, 4/5 5 96, p. 78

Well, such a star is in common use also in Israel. There is one in the Israel Druze Society website. I may add that there are at least two explanations for the colour scheme. I think the logo-flag in that site [as in the above GIF] is the author's invention by combining the two symbols [flag and star] together.

Dov Gutterman, 13 September 1999

Here's a photo, for the record. It's slightly different than the one depicted, including in order of colors – and note that the top arm doesn't quite touch the stripe edge.
Nachum Lamm, 18 June 2015

Druze Troops in Israel Defence Forces

[Druze soldiers in IDF] (2:3) image by Jorge Candeias

During my surfing in Hebrew sites I found a black and white picture showing the flag of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Druze soldiers in 1948. The picture is in the Druze page at Snunit site which is the Jerusalem University site. The flag has four horizontal stripes and a triangle with a Magen David on it. I saw the real IDF flag and the order of stripes is the same as the regular Druze flag (red-yellow-blue-white with a white Magen David on the green hoist triangle).
Dov Gutterman, 8 September 1998 and 9 May 1999

"Sword" Battalion (Gdud Herev | 1948–2015)

[Army Flag (Israel)] image by Eugene Ipavec, 2 March 2009

Emblem

[Emblem Gdud Herev] image located by Martin Karner
(source)

There is a photo at www.theodoresworld.net [retrieved] with the associated article:
"22/07/2006 – During an IDF forces' activity tonight in the village of Mervachin in southern Lebanon, the forces uncovered anti-tank missile launcher, a number of anti-tank missiles, a machine gun, a Kalashnikov gun, and a large number of bullets. The weapons were confiscated. Photo: Aviv Divon, IDF Spokesperson".
The flags (two of them, behind the captured stash) are white with a sky-blue shield in containing two crossed scimitars over a filled-in Star of David.
Eugene Ipavec, 11 January 2008

It is the flag of Battalion 299 (a.k.a. Gdud Herev = Sword Battalion, a.k.a. HaGdud HaDruzi = The Druze Battalion) which is a regular army infantry battalion whose soldiers and commanders are Druze and Cherkess. It was founded in 1974 to replace the former Unit 300 (Minorities Unit – est. 1948) and it is one of most decorated units of the IDF.
Once, it was the only unit that was available for Druze soldiers. However, since 1982 the Druze soldiers are serving in all IDF units, but it was decided to keep this battalion as such to maintain its special character and legacy.
[Wikipedia | music video with different emblems and flags of Batt. 299]
Dov Gutterman, 11 January 2008

Sultan Pasha Memorial Flag (1949)

image located by William Garrison

I received a fax from Zvi Ruder with a photo of Israeli Druze flag, which I never saw before. I scan the photo which is in poor condition after being processed through fax machine. The Arabic inscription on the flag is Sultan Basha (=Pasha) which is the name of a famous Druze leader. [Meanwhile we found a better version of this photo.]
Dov Gutterman, 13 September 1999

Original caption: "05/02/1949 – Hittin, Israel: Here the Druze flag shows its ancient design, the Star of David, which the people claim carries over from the days of King Solomon. The Arabic letters, translated read the name of one of their famous leaders, Sultan Pasha." (source [with uncropped image])
located by William Garrison, 2 November 2024

Unidentified Flag in Beit Jann (1951)

image by Eugene Ipavec, 22 December 2009

My brother, Eli Gutterman, sent me a link to a short film that was taken in Israel in 1951. The film was sponsored by Air France but it is narrated in English. It is a little over 9 minutes and can be seen at www.readme.co.il.
Close to its end, there are scenes from a celebration in the Druze village of Beit Jann in which a unique flag is seen.
The flag is a combination of Druze symbols (sword, crescents, the inscription in Arabic "Sultan Basha" [aka Sultan Pasha al-Atrash – a legendary Druze figure and the leader of the Druze revolt of 1925]) and the Israeli Magen David.
Dov Gutterman, 22 October 2008

Incorrect Reported Flag

[Druzes (Israel), probably wrong flag] image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 12 April 2018

In the Flags of Aspirant Peoples chart appears "28. Druzes – Israel". Horizontal green-red-yellow-blue-white with a white solid Magen David shifted to upper fly (centered on red stripe). Since our experts from Israel report something rather different, I assume this flag is a mistake.
Ivan Sache, 13 September 1999

There is no way it can have a light blue stripe unless somebody saw a faded flag. It should be dark blue like the image at the top. As I mentioned already, this is a probably ad-hoc flag, and I never saw one like it.
Dov Gutterman, 14 September 1999

Five Explanations for the five colours
[Information taken from page Druze People (Syria)]

Explanation 1: The colours represent the five prophets of the Druze secret religion

The Druze flag is combined from 5 colors which represent the 5 prophets of the Druze secret religion. This is what a Druze friend told me and I hope he knows what he was talking about ... The Druze religion is based principally on reincarnation. The exact rules and orders, all the prayers and even books are well hidden by this community even to its own members and only when they are of a certain age are they allowed in. It all started a few centuries ago in Iran where they were persecuted by the Muslims. Their temples back there were burnt and they fled to the Middle East. The Druze people never seek their own country but are loyal to the country which holds their lands. You can find them in Israel, Lebanon and Syria and they are said to be the best warriors (since they are not afraid to die). By the way they are not exactly Arabs (although speaking Arabic), they are of Persian origin.
Shai Tejman, 11 January 1999

Explanation 2: The colours represent five Fatimid caliphs or five prophets

I've looked into Concise Encyclopaedia of Arabic Civilization, S. and N. Ronart, Amsterdam, 1966:

"The basis of the Druze creed is the belief in the periodical manifestation of God in a human form (makam, lit. place), comparable to a veil behind which the Divine Nature is hidden. For the last five incarnations were chosen the persons of the Fatimid caliphs al-Qa'im (934–946), al-Mansur (946–952), al-Mu'izz (950–975), al-'Aziz (975–996) and al-Hakim (997–1021), the ultimate and most sublime. From him emanate the Five Principles expressing the Creative Force."
Furthermore are mentioned: al-Hakim, Hamzah ibn-'Ali, Moise, Christ and Muhammad, 5 prophets.
Jarig Bakker, 11 January 1999

Explanation 3: The colours represent earthly concrete and abstract things

At last, I received written material about the Druze and their flag. It seems the verbal information that I received and posted before was misleading and mistaken. The current source is a booklet issued by the Druze in Hebrew so here is a translation of its interesting parts:

The Druze congregation: The origin of the congregation's name is taken from the name of el-Drzi, one of the known propagandists of the Druze religion at its beginning. The religion was called at the beginning al-Tukhid and the Druze were called al-Mukhadun.

The Druze religion was established at the beginning of the 11th century but only in the 19th century were they recognized as an independent congregation by the Ottoman regime.

The Druze are recognized today as independent and separate congregations by the governments of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

The only Druze flag is combined by a green triangle at the hoist side, and four horizontal stripes of red-yellow-blue-white. The meanings of the colours are:

  • Red – symbolizes the heart and love of humanity
  • Green – symbolizes the farmer and the life
  • White – symbolizes the purity and the air
  • Yellow – symbolizes the sun and the wheat
  • Blue – symbolizes the sky and the faith
Dov Gutterman, 9 May 1999

Explanation 4: The colours represent five prophets and philosophical-spiritual concepts

Here is an explanation [for the colour scheme] from the Israel Druze Society website:

Druze religious symbol is a five-coloured flag consisting of Green, Red, Yellow, Blue and White respectively. These colours represent the five wise prophets of Al-Mowahideen.
  1. Green (Al-Akl) symbolizes "the mind", Christ's Consciousness, the pristine mirror of truth, Plato's sun whose light makes knowledge of the truth possible.
  2. Red (Al-Nafs) symbolizes "the soul", the moon (the gentle reflector of the sun) the reciever of the light, and the shaheed of the truth in every age.
  3. Yellow (Al-Kalima) symbolizes "the word", who's the mediator between Plato's realm of eternity and Aristotle's realm of material existence. "The word" after all is the purest form of expression and the softest embodiment of the truth.
  4. Blue (Al-Sabik) symbolizes the potential, the mental power of the will to become.
  5. White (Al-Tali) Symbolizes the actualization of the potential, the becoming of the blue power, the full materialization of Plato's world of forms in the world of matter.

Dov Gutterman, 13 September 1999

Explanation 5: The colours stand for the identification with Syria

I was in Israel last week touring the county. While in the Golan Heights area I saw what I understand is a variant of the Druze flag, with five stripes: from top to bottom, Green, Red, Yellow, Blue and White.
The Druze are according to my encyclopedia:

A member of a Syrian people following a religion marked by monotheism and a belief in al-Hakim (985–1021), an Ismaili caliph, as the embodiment of God.

This flag I found flying in a Druze Village near the Golan Heights. I understand from some Druze that I talked with in an other area that the Druze in Golan area have adopted this flag in an effort to identify more with Syria. Which makes sense as according to my encyclopedia:

Many Druze living in the Golan Heights consider themselves Syrian and refuse Israeli citizenship, while the remainder consider themselves Israeli.

Wayne Lovett, 19 June 2005

I think that this flag has nothing to do with it, and it is just a regular 5-stripe flag.
I know this same flag which is hoisted in the Druze village of Masa'ade and the top stripe is dark-green, and not black.
Dov Gutterman, 20 June 2005