Israeli soldiers search Palestinian mobile phones on checkpoints

Wednesday May 09, 2007 13:52 by Amin Abu Wardeh - IMEMC News

Israeli troops, stationed at one of the Military checkpoints near Salfit in the western West Bank, were seen searching through mobile phones of the Palestinian passengers without any respect to their privacy.

Troops searching Palestinian cell phones (File)

Israeli troops, stationed at one of the Military checkpoints near Salfit in the western West Bank, were seen searching through mobile phones of the Palestinian passengers without any respect to their privacy.

Eyewitnesses said that the soldiers asked the passengers if they have images and songs that hail the Palestinian resistance and Hezbollah, and searched through the phones looking for such photos and songs.

Khaled Ma’ali, a Palestinian journalists documented the action of the soldiers stationed at Iskaka military checkpoint for three days in a row.

Jamal Hamdan from Nablus, works in Ramallah and constantly travels through military checkpoints said that one female soldier frequently checks his mobile phone and explained that many of his colleagues were subject to a similar check, especially during the war on Lebanon in July 2006, looking for a very popular song hailing the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasralah.

On the other hand, Fatma Ibrahim, a student at the Al-Najah university, said that one of the soldiers demanded to check her cell phone, but she refused saying that there personal photos there that she does not want him to see. After a long quarrel, the soldier agreed to allow a female soldier to check the phone.

salfit | human rights | news report george at imemc dot org