A woman was lightly injured as the result of “celebratory gunfire” on Friday night as a delegation of some 100 visitors arrived in Israel for the first pilgrimage by Syrian Druze to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Lower Galilee near Tiberias in 50 years.
The tomb of the Prophet Shuaib is known in English as Jethro’s Tomb.
Members of the local Druze communities said they could not leave their homes for hours, accusing the police of lax enforcement of the law, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported.
The delegation consisted of dozens of Syrian Druze clerics, Hebrew-language media reported, although this received no confirmation from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Sheikh Muafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze, condemned the celebratory shooting and issued a warning against further gunfire ahead of the delegation’s slated visit to the Druze town of Peki’in in the Upper Galilee on Saturday.
“Whoever dares to shoot in Peki’in is actually shooting at us. Whoever shoots is not one of us,” the leaders of the Druze community said in a statement.
The entry of the Druze delegation to Israel’s north is the latest testament to the tightening relations between Israel and the Syrian Druze community following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December.
However, the Israeli Druze are not accustomed to shots being fired during celebrations, one local resident told Kan.
“We understand the feelings of the celebrants, but there is also concern because, for the first time, dozens of people from Syria are being brought here, and we know nothing about them,” said the resident.
“We were locked in our homes for hours,” another resident was quoted as saying.
“People were driving wildly on the access road at our junction, which leads to three towns and the tomb complex. They were shooting [in the air] from vehicles with half their bodies outside. Our houses have bullet holes on the balconies. There’s a shooting victim. The police stood by doing nothing. It was lawlessness for hours. Overall, a successful pilot of the Syrian sheikhs’ visit, who saw with their own eyes how we govern the country,” the resident added sarcastically.
After the incident, the Israel Police released a statement that read, “As part of the Northern District’s preparations for the visit of Druze religious leaders to the town of Peki’in, heavy traffic congestion is expected on the roads leading to the area. In this context, Route 864 between the town of Rameh and Monfort Lake [an artificial lake east of the city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha] is expected to be intermittently closed. Drivers and travelers in the north are requested to avoid the area and follow the instructions of the police officers stationed along the roads.”
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that members of the Syrian Druze community will be able to enter Israel to work starting on March 16.
The Druze are an Arab ethnic minority found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, and are known for being extremely loyal to the states in which they reside. Most Israeli Druze men serve in the Israel Defense Forces and security services, many in combat positions.