RAMALLAH, West Bank — Within the Green Line (the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948), there have been attempts to recruit young Christian Palestinian men into joining the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israel began a conscription campaign and established a forum to recruit Christians in the Israeli military service in August 2012, led by Orthodox priest Gabriel Nadav, who enjoys the support of the Israeli government. He called for the recruitment of young Christians in the occupation’s army before Israel began to call on young men to join the service in April 2014.

Christians fear the calls for recruitment could turn into mandatory service, like when the youth of the Druze community were forced to join the IDF in the mid-1950s. They fear that whoever refuses to serve would end up in prison like Omar Saad, a Druze from the village of Maghar Galilee, who plays music in the Edward Said Institute. He was first arrested back in October 2012.

Saad told Al-Monitor that he refused military conscription in a letter addressed to Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defense Minister Ehud Barak, explaining the reasons behind his refusal. “Because I am a man of peace, I reject all forms of conscription and I refuse to give up my musical instrument to carry a rifle that may kill my brother, sister and the children of any other people. I play for joy and freedom. I play for the just peace based on putting an end to the settlements and the occupation of Palestine, establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of all prisoners and the return of displaced refugees to their homes. I refuse to obey this law that aims to create segregation and separation of the Arab Druze from their affiliation with the Palestinian Arabs,” he said.