More and More Christians Choose to Serve Their Country .. of Israel

Preparing his jeep for the short drive into the West Bank city of Hebron, where tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers often flare, Nabeel Sabbagh looked like every other Israeli Border Policeman serving at this hilltop base. 

He was probably the only one with a crucifix tucked under his uniform.

Israeli Border Police officer Nabeel Sabbagh, 21, a Catholic 

Arab from Nazareth, patrols in the Hebron area in the 

West Bank.(Photo: Debbie Hill for USA TODAY)

An Arab Catholic from the northern Israeli city of Upper Nazareth, Sabbagh covered up the necklace "so it won't get caught on anything — not to hide my religion." 

Sabbagh is one of the very small but growing number of Israel's 160,000 indigenous Christians who, despite being exempt from military service, choose to do it on a voluntary basis. Others spend the year after high school performing civilian National Service in places like schools and hospitals.

Nabeel Sabbagh, patrols on his base in the Hebron area in 

the West Bank.(Photo: Debbie Hill for USA TODAY)

Community leaders say the controversial trend stems from a desire to integrate more into the larger Israeli society, and the best way to do this, they believe, is by serving the country. 

A graduate of an Israeli military high school, Sabbagh, 21, said he volunteered "because Israel is my country. I was born here. I live here and I'll die here." 

Indigenous Christians say they can trace their roots back 2,000 years to the time of Jesus. But they complain that despite Israel's equality laws they feel sometimes like second-class citizens in the Jewish homeland and are denied top private-sector jobs and positions in government.

Johnny Kassabri, 39, a liaison officer for Christian communities 

in the Old City of Jerusalem, is an Israeli Arab and a Catholic 

from Nazareth. (Photo: Debbie Hill for USA TODAY)

Israel's legislature, the Knesset, voted recently to give Christians a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunities advisory council to address job discrimination, and the U.S. State Department has rapped Israel in past reports for alleged failure to guarantee the rights of all Christians living there. 

Christians here say they are treated better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East, but they want to be considered full citizens not only in the eyes of the law but of the people, as well. Joining in Israel's defense is one way to do that, they say.

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