Watch
VideoRead Article
Order DVD
Human Rights
Firsthand Accounts
Take Action
Contact Congress
Join Email List
Firsthand Accounts
Senior Describes Strip-Search Experience at Israeli BorderJaleh Taheri, The Bates Student, 4/3/07
We all have certain rights as human beings. We should all have the opportunity to live freely and without humiliation. Many Palestinians face harassment and attacks upon their dignity everyday. One type of humiliation is the systematic harassment and strip searches targeted specifically at women at checkpoints. I have my own story to tell. I am not Palestinian. I am not Arab. I am not Jewish. I am American, and the following story happened to me the first time I visited Israel at the northern border crossing with Jordan last spring.
Last spring, I was on a study abroad trip in Jordan with CIEE and decided to travel with seven of my fellow Americans to Israel to visit the city of Jerusalem for three days. When my friends and I were passing at the border, things were going smoothly until they reached me at the end of the line. Not expecting to have problems crossing the border, all of my friends passed through, except one who noticed that I was being harassed. They took my passport from me and told me I had to wait while they did a security check. They held me there for 10 hours. About one hour before the border was going to close, they took me to a small room where they made me remove my clothing. They took my clothing from me and ran it through the X-ray machine. I was wearing a tank top, jeans and a pair of flip-flops, so this kind of procedure was clearly not for security.
After this, a man with a briefcase came, and I was told I must leave for questioning. I was taken outside, behind barbed wire into a small cubicle pumped with exceedingly cold air. As I sat shivering and teeth chattering, I was interrogated for an hour about my entire life and everyone I knew. They repeatedly asked me if I was planning to go to Gaza or the West Bank, even though I insisted that all I wanted was to go to Jerusalem. They asked me why my friends had different kinds of names than I do and why my friends felt that they could even be with a person like me (implying that I was too "low" for them). I have an Iranian name and they repeatedly asked me why I had this name because it was a boy's name not a girl's name. They tried to humiliate me over and over again. I was terrified. I thought I was going to be raped sitting there alone with two men in this secluded cubicle.
Finally, they let me return to my one friend who had stayed behind. By this time, I was traumatized. While I was gone, they asked my friend why she was with "someone like me." How could she be friends with me? What good did she see in me? The racism was blatant. When they finally returned my passport and let me go through, I broke down and started to shake and cry uncontrollably. The guards laughed and asked me why I cried. They had let me pass after all.
My family and friends wanted me to report this story, but when I returned to the U.S. I was still trying to comprehend what had happened to me. The blatant humiliation was unbelievable. This was my first time to Israel. All seven of us visiting Jerusalem were wearing summer clothes and only carrying simple backpacks. It was really a shock.
If you would like more information about this type of treatment, visit ifamericansknew.org and watch the short film entitled "The Easiest Targets: The Israeli Policy of Searching Women and Children," or contact Bates Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine.
I just thought I would share this story with you. I know that there are many more that may be far worse. I am still shocked that, as an American citizen with no connections in Israel or Palestine, I was treated so horribly.