But since a Bedouin mounted a terror attack, relations have been tense

In a small, rural cemetery in northern Israel, 25-year-old Mohammad Ka’abiyah brushes some leaves carefully from a headstone.

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.’

Cameraman: Shai Rosenzweig

Pride: Mohammad Ka'abiya, 25, says he is equally proud to be Bedouin, Arab, Muslim and Israeli

Armed: Mohammad Ka'abiya, centre, poses with his weapon while serving in the Israel Defence Force (IDF)

The fallen: Ka'abiya stands next to the grave of a Bedouin Arab soldier who was killed while fighting for Israel

Islamic: The Muslim crescent can be seen etched into many of the gravestones, alongside Arabic script

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.

Early days: The Bedouin have been fighting alongside Jewish forces since before Israel was established

Deadly: Mohammad Ka'abiya, right, is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Rashid al-Ka’abi, far left, who is seen posing with the legendary Jewish fighter Alexander Zaïd, centre, in the 1930s

Allegiance: A Bedouin Arab Israeli soldier places his hand on the Koran as he swears allegiance to Israel

Arab-Israeli: Mohammad Ka'abiya, 25, is a Sunni Muslim who served in the IDF and is deeply patriotic

Horseman: Riding horses is an important part of Bedouin culture, as shown by Mohammad Ka'abiya

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.

Killer: Muhanad Alukabi, 21, a Bedouin from the village of Hura, killed a soldier and wounded 11 civilians at a bus station in Beersheba in October

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.

Aftermath: Muhanad Alukabi, a Bedouin from the village of Hura, killed a soldier and wounded 11 in October

Injured: A wounded man is rushed away from the scene of a terror attack by paramedics in Beersheba, Israel

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.’

Critical: Mira Azar, a Palestinian singer, has released a song criticising Arabs who fight for Israel

Tradition: Mohammad Ka'abiya, right, says he is continuing the traditions of Bedouin of the past, left

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.

Settlements: This map, produced by the Israeli NGO Regavim, shows the distribution of Bedouin villages in the Negev desert. The blue marks represent 45 unauthorised Bedouin settlements listed by the advocacy organisation RCUV. The red marks represent further unauthorised villages recorded by Regavim, while the pink marks are Bedouin settlements that have been authorised by the State

Community: The Bedouin village of Ka'abiya, in the north of Israel, where Mohammad Ka'abiya lives

In the 1950s, the nascent Jewish State resettled the majority of the Bedouin from all over Israel in the north-eastern Negev, where they lived under martial law until it was lifted in 1966.

Israel authorised 18 separate Bedouin communities, making them eligible to receive public services.

However, about half of the Bedouin – traditionally a nomadic people – have set up other, unauthorised villages in the Negev (see map). These have not been granted access to municipal electricity, gas and running water.

The Bedouin living in these villages rank consistently at the very bottom of Israel’s socioeconomic index. As their homes are unauthorised, they are at constant risk of demolition.

The village of Al-Araqib, for example, has been bulldozed and rebuilt 59 times since 2010. The Government has earmarked the land for a conservation project, but the defiant villagers replace their homes quicker than they can be demolished.

A Human Rights Watch report blames Israel, saying that its land and planning policies are 'punitive' and make it 'virtually impossible' for many Bedouin to build legally where they live.

'Israeli policies have created a situation whereby tens of thousands of Bedouin citizens in the Negev have little or no alternative but to live in ramshackle villages and build illegally in order to meet their most basic shelter needs,' it says.

But Regavim, an Israeli NGO that has published a report entitled Bedouin Myths, argues that the Bedouin who set up unauthorised villages are breaking the law and must be treated accordingly.

'This is simply a case of Bedouin trying to take advantage of the State of Israel with the help of the foreign funding provided by anti-Israel NGOs,' says Ari Briggs, Director of Regavim.

'Each and every so-called “resident” of Al Arakib have homes elsewhere. The rule of law and the equal application of the law necessitates enforcement actions against squatters, land grabbers and illegal building.'

Demolition: The unauthorised village of Al-Araqib is bulldozed. It has been destroyed 59 times since 2010

Defiance: A Bedouin child helps to rebuild the village following its demolition by the State

Taking shape: Villagers erect a home on an unauthorised site which has just been levelled by the authorities

Community: Bedouin from the Al-Araqib village gather in prayer in a makeshift mosque after a demolition

Heritage: Mohammad Ka'abiya shows off a picture of his warrior grandfather, Rashid al-Ka'abi, posing with the iconic Jewish fighter Alexander Zaïd

This combination of pressures has created a simmering resentment in some parts of Israel’s Bedouin population.

As a result, number of Bedouin signing up for the army is declining, the Economist has reported.

When news of the Bedouin terrorist broke, a relative of the killer, Nuri Alukabi, pointed out that the family felt they had been poorly treated by Israeli authorities (though he made it clear that this was no excuse for the attack).

But despite the acrimony, the Bedouin’s history of fighting for Israel is long, and most believe that the traditional bond is secure.

At his family home, Ka’abiya shows off a picture of his warrior grandfather, Rashid al-Ka’abi, posing alongside the renowned Jewish fighter Alexander Zaïd, who was killed by local Arabs in Palestine in 1938.

‘The Bedouin and the Jews made a blood pact,’ he says. ‘It will never be broken.’

When asked whether he is concerned that telling his story may lead to reprisals, he laughs.

‘I am a Bedouin fighter,’ he says. ‘I don't care and don't worry.’

HOW THE BEDOUIN ARABS BECAME LOYAL TO ISRAEL Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888 - 1935), better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was famed for making the Bedouin into British allies during the First World War. A few years later, the Bedouin also joined forces with the Jewish militia who were protecting the Jewish pioneers in Palestine. Today, Bedouin communities comprise about 12 percent of Israel’s 1.6million Arab citizens, which itself accounts for about 20 per cent of the country's overall population. Exact figures have not been made public, but it is estimated that several thousand Israeli Arabs – Bedouins, Druze, Christians and a small handful of Muslims – serve in the IDF. The alliance between Israel and the Bedouin began during the British Mandate, particularly when Bedouins of Tuba and az-Zangariyye helped defend Jewish villages during the Arab Revolt in Palestine between 1936 and 1939. This pact was formalised in 1946, when the leader of the Bedouin El Heib tribe, Sheik Hussein Mohammed Ali Abu Youssef, sent 60 of his men to join the Haganah – the forerunner of Israel's modern army – forming a special unit called the Pal-Heib. During the war of 1948, when Israel was established, the Pal-Heib unit fought against the Syrian army in the north, and the Bedouin were granted full Israeli citizenship when hostilities ended. ‘Is it not written in the Koran that the ties of neighbours are as dear as those of relations?’ Sheik Youssef told the Palestine Post at the time. ‘Our friendship with the Jews goes back many years. We felt we could trust them and they learned from us too.’ Bedouin have fought in the Israel Defence Force (IDF) ever since. Major Fehd Fallah, a Bedouin from the village of Saad in the Golan Heights, spoke for many Bedouin when he told the BBC: 'Yes, I have fought against Muslims in Gaza. And I would fight again if I had to. 'Israeli Muslims who don't serve in the IDF should be ashamed for not serving their country.' Advertisement

Unity: Senior IDF soldiers visit the Bedouin Sheik Avda Abu Ma’amar for the holiday of Eid Al-Fitr