Haaretz reports, "New figures made available by the Israel Defense Forces show the number of Muslim and Christian Arab Israeli volunteers in the army is growing.

The deaths of five soldiers from the IDF's Desert Reconnaissance Unit (the so—called Bedouin unit) in an attack on an army outpost near Rafah earlier this month drew public attention to the service of Bedouin in the IDF.

However, the reports on the incident paid little attention to the fact that most of the dead were not Bedouin: Three of the five soldiers killed were Muslim Arabs from villages in the Galilee and Triangle, who had volunteered for military service.

Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon paid condolence visits to the three families — the first such visits by a chief of staff."

Might they think they have a brighter future with a Western democracy rather than another Arab despotic state?

Ed Lasky  12 30 04