National service is a rite of passage in Israel. Apart from its military value, serving in the army has traditionally been credited with helping to integrate new immigrants, developing agricultural settlements and providing supplementary education to many young Israelis.

But today, 50 years after the country's independence, Israelis are taking a much more critical view of their armed forces. BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus looks at the changing relationship between the armed forces and Israeli society.

Israel's conscript army has always seen itself as a reflection of the society it serves.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) traditionally are the great integrator of Israeli society.

Many ultra-orthodox Jews do not serve in the army's ranks

But as certain minority groups increasingly opt out of military service, some experts say that the army is becoming a national divider.

Those not serving include a growing number of ultra-orthodox Jews who obtain exemptions from military service on religious grounds. Israeli Arabs generally do not serve in the army's ranks too.

And most new Jewish immigrants over the age of 18 receive little or no military training.

Military service is claimed to be the great equaliser of Israeli society. But this is not always the case.

While some women soldiers perform highly demanding roles like tank instructor, more than 60% of the young women doing national service are assigned to dreary desk jobs..

Two thirds of women soldiers are allowed to fight paper wars only

This, in turn, has much broader implications for Israeli society.

"Because men do the essential tasks - which is combat duty - and women do non-essential tasks . . . this also reflects upon the status of women in Israeli civilian society," said Stuart Cohen of Bar Ilan University. "There is a spill-over here from the male bias of the Israeli military to the male bias of Israeli society at large."

In fact, the idea that the Israeli army is a mirror of Israeli society has always been something of a myth. According to IDF statistics, it is expected that by 2000, as little as 50% of Israeli citizenry will have participated in the military experience.

As military planners try to balance Israel's security needs with the demands of its rapidly changing society, there is a growing debate about the need for a more professional army.

Is the sun setting on Israel's traditional army?

But there are clear limits to how far this can go.

Zeev Schiff, one of Israel's most respected defence commentators, says the standing army is the factory which produces soldiers for the reserve divisions, upon which Israel relies so heavily in times of war.

"It is a nice dream," he says of the plan to create a professional army, "but far away."

Many of the images of the Israeli armed forces seem stuck in the idealised days of the 1950s, along with stereotyped visions of healthy young Zionists in baggy shorts making the desert bloom. Some fifty years on, Israeli society has changed beyond recognition. And the army will have to change with it.

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