By mrfahrenheit211 on Skatehive
For the first time in many decades there has been a mass pilgrimage of members of the Druze community entering Israel to attend mass religious Druze religious celebrations. The Times of Israel reported: Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed into Israel on Friday for their community’s first pilgrimage to a revered shrine since Israel’s creation in 1948. On board three buses escorted by military vehicles, the clerics crossed the armistice line at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and headed to northern Israel. According to a source close to the group, the delegation of around 60 clerics was due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, in northern Israel. They then headed to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib near Tiberias in the Galilee -– the most important religious site for the Druze — where they arrived in the evening to pray. Followers of the esoteric monotheistic faith are mainly divided between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. This development may not mean mu