A GROUP of seven women on a humanitarian mission to the Holy Land have been harassed and sent back to Birmingham after Israeli authorities threatened them with imprisonment.

The all-female group, which included Muslim delegates, were barred from entering Israel and deported to Birmingham from Tel Aviv's Ben Guiron Airport. The women were visiting the Holy Land to deliver money raised at an Ecumenical fundraising meal and funds collected by the local Catholic community for projects working with malnourished children as part of a trip organised by the Birmingham-Ramallah Twinning Committee.

One of the delegates, Salma Iqbal, was placed under suspicion for having a Pakistani visa stamped in her passport and was 'harassed and humiliated' before being detained in a cell with the other women. Ms. Iqbal, from Small Heath, felt she was singled out by being taken to one side from the rest of the group and then heavily interrogated whilst being threatened by two officials in a 'good cop-bad cop' scenario.

"I was initially the only one that was taken aside and taken in for questioning rather than the rest of the group and I don't know how many hours it was in the end but I was just interrogated a lot and asked really silly questions. The first thing they asked was about the other countries I had visited and 'when' but after that, I didn't understand the relevance. They asked questions such as 'Do you have a nickname?' and so on and I just didn't see the relevance at all. Most of the time, they kept me there just waiting while they did whatever it was that they were doing but it wasn't long before they dragged me off to be interrogated again."

After much interrogation, the Israeli authorities had extracted Salma's personal details including the names of her family and friends in Britain and in Pakistan, her bank details, work information and personal affiliations.

"The way they were asking personal questions made me feel very uncomfortable and insecure. I was asked questions about my family, my brothers' and sisters' names, who they're married to, how many kids they've got, the names of family members in Pakistan, where I work and what job I do and then where I get money from in the job. They ended up leaving me feeling very vulnerable. The things that make you feel secure and safe are suddenly chucked away. It was around four hours before I saw the rest of my party again." she told Asian Leader.

The women described much of the experience as "undignified" as they were all but strip searched. They spoke of removing hair clips to have their hair searched, removing their boots and belts to have them scanned and X-rayed, having the soles of their feet scanned and the hems of their trousers searched. They were also asked to unzip and remove their trousers while female staff 'checked' their groin area. Hijab-wearing group member Rubina Samuddin, who did not attend the press conference, was said to be assertive and challenged officials throughout the humiliating affair even though she herself was denied access to essential medication which was in her suitcase. Group members recalled how it seemed like the Israeli officials were "laughing and having fun" during the frightening ordeal. Most of the women were interrogated for between 10-15 minutes, except for Salma Iqbal who was held for a number of hours.

Social worker Salma, who was visiting Israel and Palestine for the first time, feared for her safety and was even asked if she had any Jewish friends who could vouch for her honesty. The 26-year-old gave the name of her constituency MP, Roger Godsiff.

"You have to bear in mind that it was an extremely long day. We were hungry, we were thirsty, we were sleep-deprived and to be honest, we were just scared. I really didn't know what they were going to do to us. I was hoping that they would deport us rather than anything beyond that. I was scared, I was terrified. I didn't know, I just did not know - we weren't being told anything. I just didn't know why we were there" she said.

The delegation hoped to visit the holy sites of all faiths followed by visits to refugee camps, women's projects and to meet Israeli friends involved in peace work. However, Israeli authorities told them that it was illegal to visit the Palestinian Occupied Territories, although the group was told by the British Consulate that this was not so.

Kamel Hawwash, Chair of the Birmingham-Ramallah Twinning Committee, fails to see how the Israelis could make such a claim. He said, "I don't think that there is anything that states people shouldn't be allowed into areas of conflict. They should allow people in, not only to come in but to carry out humanitarian work."

Group leader Yvonne Washbourne added, "As far as we were concerned it wasnít illegal to go and visit the area. A lot of the holy sites that we wanted to visit are actually in Palestine so how could it be illegal? Youíre allowed to go to sites like Bethlehem.

"We're law abiding citizens and so to be told by someone who is supposed to be in authority that you're breaking the law, that you're doing something illegal is quite scary. We'd been up for two nights and were very hungry and we told them that the trip was legitimate but then they would twist the question into something else and it was quite frightening for all of us."

Asked why the women didn't challenge the Israeli decision to deport them, they recalled how the authorities threatened them with imprisonment. Group member Sandra Kane explained: "We had the option of a week in prison or going back on the plane and when we spoke to the British Consulate, there was absolutely no co-operation from the security about giving us a main person that we could talk to. We had nobody to tell us what our rights were or whether we could not be deported. All we knew is that if we didn't leave, we faced the prospect of a week in an Israeli jail and God knows what that would be like given what we had been through that day.

"They were trying to scare us by saying things like 'unless you tell us who's behind your trip, we can't help you' and kept asking about any groups we had links to. They even asked 'Who's telling you what to say?' as if we were part of some terrorist plot. There was a kind of sinister air to what they were saying and you wonder what they were trying to get at." The women were allowed to leave the airport but were surrounded by armed police as soon as they set foot outside of the building. After having their luggage "thrown around" and their mobile phones and passports confiscated, the group was forced onto a plane bound for Britain but their passports were not returned to them until they reached Frankfurt.

Spokesperson for the group Yvonne Washbourne, President of Birmingham Trades Council, said, "We were told that unless we agreed to be put on the first flight back, we could be incarcerated for a week. Israeli security officials would not respond to enquiries from the British Consulate. Our passports were stamped with 'Entry Denied' which will make it difficult for us to return. However, we are determined to visit the Holy Land in the near future."

Mr. Hawwash believes that the action taken by Israeli officials is an attempt to quash the solidarity being built between Birmingham and Palestine. He stated "Israel's disgraceful decision to deport the group is aimed at hampering our efforts to develop links between Brummies and Palestinians. Israel can do this because it continues to occupy the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. This means that the outside world has no direct access to the Occupied Territories. We are determined to continue our peaceful efforts to develop these links.

"We call on the British Government to make the strongest possible protest to the Israeli authorities about the treatment of these women and call on Israel to reverse its decision to ban them from entering Israel."

The seven women who were deported are Salma Iqbal (26), Sandra Kane (41), Yvonne Washbourne (55), Sam Owen (39), Hazel Neal (53), Janet Mior (55) and Rubina Samuddin (37). The women have been banned from Israel but are trying to obtain assurances from the Israeli Embassy that they will be allowed to enter the country when they visit again and are currently seeking legal advice about their treatment. They would like the Israeli authority to apologise and will be registering the support of local MPs.