Bedouin honor IDF service, mourn fallen soldiers
Bedouin youths continue to demonstrate their commitment to Israel by enlisting, despite growing tensions with Jewish society as the demolition of Bedouin homes continues.
Amid the many April 22 Memorial Day ceremonies for Israel's fallen soldiers, there was one unofficial and unusual event in Ka'abiyye, a Bedouin village in the north of Israel. The initiative to hold a memorial procession there came from Muhammed Ka'abiyye, a resident who thinks that the fallen Bedouins who have proven their loyalty and love to Israel — their state — deserve a special memorial service as well.
Every year, a memorial service for the fallen Bedouins is held at a monument for a Bedouin fighter, located at HaMovil junction in the lower Galilee region. Yet, Ka'abiyye says that the young members of the community who enlisted with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as well as bereaved families feel that the State of Israel does too little to commemorate the contribution of the Bedouins who fell during Israel's wars.
