"I served in the IDF, " said Aehab Asad, 33, a local Druze from Daliyat.
Traditionally, Druze men are proud of their military service, but there are signs that this attitude is changing.
Some Druze parents see hockey as a way to expose their kids to opportunities in Israel.
WSJ: Hockey Heats Up in Tiny Village With Israel's Only Big Rink
"Now whenever I score a goal, of course I feel pride, " says the 12-year-old Druze villager.
WSJ: Hockey Heats Up in Tiny Village With Israel's Only Big Rink
Druze are Arabic-speakers, too, part of a tribe divided between Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
WSJ: Hockey Heats Up in Tiny Village With Israel's Only Big Rink
Druze parliament member Wael Abu-Faour(ph) says Lebanon is again becoming the battleground in a regional war.
Mr. WAEL ABU-FAOUR (Druze Parliament Member, Lebanon): Everyone is using Lebanon as a battlefield.
The neighborhood is also home to Iraqi refugees, as well as Druze and Christian groups.
Across the northern Galilee region there are dozens of Arab and Druze villages, each offering their own homemade variety.
One notable exception, though, is Naim Araidi, a Druze professor who was appointed Israel's ambassador to Norway last year.
Indeed, history has shown that the Druze are a faithful and welcoming people.
The outspoken Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, has lost half his fief to his chief rival, Talal Arslan.
Carpet-bagging politicians rolled up in Mercedes cars with tinted windows, alongside turbaned Shia clerics and baggy-trousered Druze elders.
"The Druze community is a great community, " said Araidi upon his appointment.
When the family arranges to marry its daughter to a Druze from Damascus, the wedding must be held at the border.
Christian leaders suspect that Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, is working the Lebanese crowd and world opinion for his own political ends.
And an ethnically Arab Druze holds a seat in Mr. Netanyahu's cabinet.
Syria is a diverse country, with large Christian, Druze and Kurdish minorities.
The Druze are also known for their distinctively large-but-flat pita breads.
On a terrace in front of the house were arranged Palestinian dignitaries, foreign diplomats, Druze elders and representatives of various different Christian denominations.
Jaramana, a town in the Damascus suburbs with a Christian and Druze population that has mostly been pro-regime, was the site of violence Monday night.
"Anyone can play soccer, " says Anan Radah, a Druze community leader.
WSJ: Hockey Heats Up in Tiny Village With Israel's Only Big Rink
Mr Assad also depends on the loyalty of Sunni merchants in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's second city, and of various Druze and Christians in high positions.
ECONOMIST: Revolt and repression in Syria: Could the Assad regime fall apart? | The
On the north side of the main street is the Druze Heritage Centre, a small and free museum that exhibits traditional Druze artefacts, weapons and lots of photos of men with moustaches.
Further down the street is Beit Oliphant (also called Beit Druze), the former house of Sir Lawrence Oliphant, a British Christian author who made friends with the Druze and moved here in 1882.
Stay at the El-Manzul Druze Lodging in Isfiya, a huge house where guests can enjoy a Jacuzzi, massages and a traditional Druze breakfast of labneh, pita bread, olives and a variety of small salads.
They then filled the new building with engravings and portraits of Ottoman sultans, French cavalry officers and Druze tribesmen, as well as faded photos of old Beirut and the villages of Mount Lebanon.
As for another bout of internal conflict in Lebanon, where Hezbollah clashed violently with Sunnis and Druze in 2008, there is equally little feeling that the movement is looking to pick a fight, despite deepening sectarian sentiment and political rifts over Syria.
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