Are these Israel's bravest soldiers?

Like any Israeli graveyard, a number of those buried were killed in action. But here – as the numerous crescents and pieces of Arabic calligraphy indicate – all of the fallen soldiers were Muslim.

‘If you told this story to people from Europe or the United States, or even other Arabs from the Middle East, they wouldn't believe it,’ Ka’abiyah tells MailOnline. ‘But it's really a true situation.’

Ka’abiyah, a Political Sciences student at Haifa university, is one of up to 300,000 Bedouin Arabs living in Israel, all of whom are Sunni Muslims.

Arabs comprise about 20 per cent of Israel's population. They have equal rights in law but are generally exempt from serving in the army.

However, certain tribes are particularly patriotic towards Israel, and choose to join the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). About 1,700 Bedouin soldiers are currently enlisted, although there is no obligation on them to do so.

Many Bedouin are recruited as trackers, drawing on their desert heritage to catch terrorists seeking to infiltrate the country along Israel’s borders. 

Like almost all the men in his village – which is also called Ka'abiya, the name of his Bedouin tribe – he volunteered, becoming the first one from his clan to join the Air Force, where he served in a helicopter unit.

‘I am proud to be a Bedouin fighter,’ he says. ‘And I am also proud to fight in the Israeli army. I am proud of being Bedouin, Arab, Muslim and Israeli.’

To date, 363 Arabs have been killed in action while fighting for Israel. Three of them came from Ka'abiya.

The alliance between Israel and the Bedouin began in the early 20th Century, when Jews and Bedouin joined forces to protect the Jewish communities from their hostile Arab neighbours during the British Mandate.

In 1948, when Israel was established, the Bedouin pledged their allegiance to the Jewish State and were granted full citizenship.

Today, the Bedouin comprise about 2.5 percent of Israel’s population. 

Although they are exempt from conscription, up to 10 per cent of eligible Bedouin men continue the tradition by volunteering for the IDF each year.

But tensions are running high in the Bedouin community.

In October, 21-year-old Muhanad Alukabi, a Bedouin from the Negev desert who 'believed in the Islamic State' and had been in contact with Hamas, mounted a gun and knife attack in a bus station in Beersheba.

The gunman, who was initially armed with a knife but grabbed a rifle from a soldier, was shot dead by police.

An IDF sergeant, Omri Levi, 19, was killed in the attack, and 11 civilians were wounded. An Eritrean man was also mistakenly killed by security services in the confusion.

In an effort to prevent escalation, Bedouin leaders were quick to condemn the attack as ‘despicable’.

The terrorist's father, Khalil Alukabi, told a press conference outside his home that terrorism was not part of the Bedouin way.

'We don’t educate toward violence,' he told the Maariv newspaper. 

Tal al-Krenawi, the mayor of the Bedouin city of Rahat, said: ‘We Bedouins and Jews [live] as brothers. Any attempt to damage our relationship will not be accepted.’

Some, however, fear that it is a symptom of a deeper malaise.

‘There are some extremists who are trying to divide us and turn us against Israel,’ says Ka’abiya. 

‘The Bedouin community needs to come together and be strong. Otherwise it could be very bad.’

He points out, however, that less than a week after the terror attack, there was a second also involving a Bedouin. But this time, the man in question – a Bedouin IDF soldier – was the victim, not the perpetrator.

Arabs who serve in the IDF are viewed as traitors by most Palestinians.

Last year, Mira Azar, a Palestinian singer, made this attitude plain in a song entitled Tell Me, Are You Satisfied With Yourself?.

In the music video, Azar sings in the middle of a ruined village while archive footage of Israel-Palestinian violence is played.

‘Tell me, have you seen the pictures?’ she sings. ‘Tell me, have you heard the news? And still you want to serve? How can you raise your weapon at your brother?’

Ka’abiya says that he speaks for the majority of the Bedouin when he dismisses this criticism.

‘I didn't fight against Arab people. I was fighting against terror organisations because I don't want the Arab people to be injured or killed,’ he tells MailOnline. 

'Arabs are victims of the terrorist organisations.

‘Some people call us traitors, but Israel is a democracy where all cultures and colours have the same rights. The ones who refuse to serve are the real traitors.’

Nevertheless, October's terror attack took place against a backdrop of friction between some Bedouin tribes and the authorities.

Ka’abiya lives in one of the relatively affluent villages in the north of the country.

His family home is spacious and comfortable, with superfast broadband, a playroom for the children and a widescreen digital TV. 

More than 200,000 Bedouin, however, live in the Negev desert in the south, where relations with the State are more fractious.

Human trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and weapons are rife, and crime levels are among the highest in Israel. 

(dailymail.co.uk)