3 women 'ordered to remove' Muslim overgarment

14/01/2011

JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers deployed at a Jenin checkpoint on Thursday forced women to remove an overgarment worn by conservative Muslim women referred to locally as the jiljab, officials said.

Tawfiq Qabaha, member of the Barta'a Ash-Sharqiya village municipal council, told Ma’an that "soldiers ordered the women heading to the town to take off their jilbab for searches, and they were detained for more than three hours."

Jenin is among the most conservative Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, and women who choose to wear the jiljab are rarely seen without it covering their normal clothes while outside the home.

He added that head of the municipal council, Ghassan Qabaha, along with other senior officials headed to the checkpoint expressing anger over the orders from the soldiers and met with the officer in charge of the checkpoint.

The officer listened, but told them he could not disobey orders handed down by senior commanders, Qabaha said. However, a compromise was reached allowing the women to enter a separate room, where they were searched by a female soldier.

Qabaha urged the Palestinian leadership to intervene with the Israelis in order to reverse the apparent change in protocol.

An Israeli military spokesman denied knowledge of such an incident at the checkpoint.

Meanwhile Thursday, Israel's Government Press Office issued an official apology after an Al-Jazeera reporter was asked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security detail to remove her bra.

Al-Jazeera filed a complaint with the GPO and the Foreign Press Association following the incident, which took place before an annual banquet the GPO holds for the foreign press, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=350950.