The House Where Jewish-Druze Relations Began

Isfiya, Israel, Est. 1836

Step inside the museum where Druze-Jewish relations first began: the house of the Mukhtar in Isfiya at the summit of Mount Carmel. 

Al-Aqed was the political center of the Druze-Jewish alliance: it was the location where Druze leaders met with their Jewish counterparts--from David Ben-Gurion to Menachem Begin to Moshe Sharett. It also served as a refuge for Jewish Histadrut leader Abba Hushi when he fled from the British police during Mandatory Palestine. Day-to-day, the house of the Mukhtar served a function similar to a town hall and played a central role in the governance of the Ottoman Empire.

Al-Aqed has a great history on its own and was a popular cinematic location, with its interior and surroundings filmed in Israeli War of Independence movies Exodus (1960), starring Paul Newman, and Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (1955), starring Edward Mulhare and Haya Harareet—the very first movie filmed in Israel. 

The Druze and the Jews are valiantly united in the current war in Israel, and many of us have read the numerous recent accounts of heroism of the Druze in the IDF. But were the Jews and the Druze always allied in Mandatory Palestine and in the subsequent State of Israel? The answer is a resounding yes(!), from the Arab Revolt of 1936 to the Israeli War of Independence of 1948 to every battle since. Visit Al Aqed and learn the fascinating details of this alliance, which dates back over a century and was centered in this very house.