DALIYAT AL-KARMEL, Israel — The sign in Hebrew hanging on the front door of the military cemetery at the top of Mount Karmel reads, “Tribute to the fallen Druze soldiers / We did not honor you as we should have.”

Ameer, a Druze man with protruding muscles, looked at it with a sad smile. “It's a Jewish neighbor who wrote that,” he told Al-Monitor. “It's nice.” An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veteran, Ameer had served during the first intifada. 

Druze cemeteries are traditionally devoid of grave markers bearing names because the Druze believe in reincarnation. An exception was made on Mount Karmel for those who had fallen in war, with more than 400 names of Druze soldiers so far engraved on stone slabs. The first date back to 1938, a decade before the founding of the State of Israel. Today, about 83% of Druze youth serve in the IDF, the highest enlistment percentage of all communities, including the Jewish population.

“We gave our lives and so much more,” Ameer said, pacing along the cemetery's pathways under a scorching hot sun. “And now the government wants to make us second-class citizens. Why?”