The Desert Reconnaissance Battalion (DRB) (also known as Unit 585 or the Bedouin Battalion) is a unit of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

. It is an ethnic minority unit consisting of volunteers from the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

and Circassian ethnoreligious groups, while the majority of the IDF and the Israeli population are

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. The DRB was founded in the late 1980s and since then has largely been deployed on the border with the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

on security duties.

Description

The Desert Reconnaissance Battalion (DRB), also known as Unit 585, was one of three ethnic minority units in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The others are the

Sword Battalion The Sword Battalion ( he, גדוד חרב, translit=Gdud Herev; ar, كتيبة السيف), formerly Unit 300 and also known as the IDF Minorities Unit, was an Arabic-speaking battalion of the Israel Defense Forces. History Unit 300 was formed ...

(for the

) and the Bedouin Trackers; the Sword Battalion has since been disbanded. The vast majority of the service personnel in the IDF are Jews, the predominant ethnoreligious group in Israel and one (with the Druze and

Circassians The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia in ...

) subject to compulsory service. Other groups are able to volunteer in the IDF and the DRB includes Bedouin, Christians, Muslims, Druse and Circassians. The majority in the DRB are Bedouin and the unit is sometimes referred to as the "Bedouin Battalion". Most of the Arabs in the IDF are Bedouin from southern Israeli

Naqab The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

. Around 80% of the Naqab Bedouin recruits elect to serve in the DRB or the Bedouin Trackers, with most selecting the DRB. Around 1,500 Bedouin currently serve in the IDF, though the leadership have made efforts to increase this number. Since the founding of the state in 1948 more than 110 Bedouin have been killed whilst serving in the IDF.

Operational history

The DRB was founded in the late 1980s, since which it has largely served on the border between Israel and the

. It has a base nearby at

Kissufim Kissufim ( he, כִּסּוּפִים, ''lit.'' Yearning) is a kibbutz in the northwestern Negev desert in Israel. Located adjacent to the Gaza Strip at an altitude of 92 meters above sea level, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional C ...

. The battalion serves alongside the Bedouin Trackers on patrols, using tracking techniques to search for terrorists and to prevent infiltration of the border. Because some members face threats and harassment from members of their community they are permitted to travel to and from duty out of uniform. The Desert Reconnaissance Battalion is equipped with

MDT David The MDT David is an ultra light armored personnel carrier and light Armored Vehicle assembled by MDT Armor Corporation for the Israeli Security Forces. The vehicle is based on Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser platforms and replaces the ...

light armoured personnel carriers,

Wolf Armoured Vehicle The Wolf Armoured Vehicle ( he, זאב) is an armoured personnel carrier, used mainly by the Israeli Defence Force. It was created to provide a better handling and better protected armoured vehicle than the M113 (Bardelas). The Wolf is a heavily ...

s and

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ori ...

s. It is currently part of the 143rd "Fire Fox" (Territorial) Division of Southern Command. For much of its history the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion had been deployed to the dangerous

Rafah Border Crossing The Rafah Border Crossing ( ar, معبر رفح, Ma`bar Rafaḥ) or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. It is located on the Gaza–Egypt border, which was recognized by the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace ...

. Five soldiers of the battalion were killed there in 2004, after which the Israeli newspaper ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' asked whether the unit had been assigned this post due to the perceived lower social standing of its soldiers. It had spent the preceding four years at Rafah while other frontline units were rotated through the post. The unit's first Bedouin commanding officer was appointed in December 2004.

References

{{commons cat, IDF Desert Reconnaissance battalion Southern Command (Israel) Battalions of Israel Military units and formations established in the 1980s Infantry of Israel