| Kippreport.com

Passengers body searched as Israeli-Turkish tension rises

September 6, 2011 11:26 by Reuters

Israeli passengers said they were segregated and searched at Istanbul airport on Monday and Turkish tourists made similar complaints about treatment in Israel, accounts that further stoked a heated feud between the two countries.

Three days after Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador over Israel’s refusal to apologise for a raid that killed nine Turks on a ship trying to break its blockade of Gaza in 2010, visitors from both countries were feeling unwelcome.

Hayuta Leibovich, an Israeli who manufactures clothes in Turkey, said she and other Israelis in line at passport control at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport were told by security officers to stand in a corner of the terminal.

“They gathered us in a group and asked for our passports — not very nicely,” she said. “I felt as if they put us in a ghetto.”

Leibovich said she usually speeds through the airport’s arrival procedures in about 15 minutes during her frequent business trips to Turkey.

On Friday, Turkey — a former strategic ally of Israel and once a hugely popular vacation spot for Israelis — froze all military pacts with Israel, kicked out its ambassador and threatened legal sanctions after a United Nations report on the 2010 incident was issued.

Israel has spurned Turkish demands to apologise for the killings, saying its commandos acted in self-defence after meeting violent resistance from pro-Palestinian activists in a flotilla challenging an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, which is run by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Jerusalem said the Israeli travellers were questioned individually and waited about 90 minutes before their passports were returned and they were released.

“We don’t know what the questioning was about. We are looking for more details. We were told by the Turkish authorities that they were not familiar with the case,” the spokesman said.

An Israeli woman who gave her name only as Orit said she was in transit at Istanbul airport when she and about 20 other Israelis were separated from other passengers.

“They told us to stand in the corner — to humiliate us as much as possible,” she told Israel Radio.

Orit said the passengers were taken away for strip searches before being allowed to board a flight to Israel at the last minute. “We were all traumatised,” she said.

There was no immediate comment from Turkish authorities.

BODY SEARCHES

In the Anatolian report, Turkish tourists arriving from Israel said they underwent body searches in Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport before being given the go-ahead to leave the country.

Eyup Ansar Ugur, a Turkish guide who travelled with a group of Turkish tourists who went to Israel during the Ramadan Muslim holiday, said Turkish tourists were singled out and mistreated by Israeli officials.

“There was a different treatment against Turkish people. Our luggage was rummaged by Israeli security officials many times. Since the search of our luggage took so long, our flight was delayed. They went through a napkin three times, and searched my trousers fifty times.”

Another tourist, who was not identified in the report, said the Israelis treated the group…

(CONTINUED TO NEXT PAGE)

Pages: 1 2

Tags: body search Israel, body search turkey, Israel tourism, Israel turkey, Istanbul, tensions Israel turkey, Travel, Turkey, Turkey tourism