Israeli Ynet News reported that an Israeli-Arab student, studying at Ariel College, was humiliated and forced out of an Israeli bus after she “was heard” speaking Arabic on her cell phone. She said that she was forced out of the bus for daring to speak her language while on board.
Hanin Musleh also said that she was subjected to a full body search, the Ynet added.
She is from Wadi Ara area and is studying at the college to obtain a degree in engineering.
Musleh was removed from the bus by two armed guards who boarded the vehicle near a roadblock just out of Ariel settlement, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
The guards forced her out of the bus after questioning her for speaking in Arabic.
She said that she takes the same bus every day to go to her college, and that she was removed out of the bus to be left on some isolated road.
She added that she told the guards that she is Israeli, with Israeli ID and citizenship, just like them, and that they should not be humiliating and degrading her like this.
Musleh even stated that she does not wear a veil or any traditional dress, and that she does not even look Arab.
“The only reason they removed me from the bus is because I spoke Arabic”, she added.
The Ynet stated that the Ariel municipality said that the guards work for a security agency that “operates in accordance to the guidelines of the Israeli military.
The Ariel College said that it regrets this incident, and that Arab students constitute 4% of the entire student body at the college.
The college added that several Arab students live in dorms and are involved with the community of Ariel settlement.
The college said that this is the first time such an incident happens, and that Arab students started enrolling 15 years ago.
But Musleh stated that several other Arab students were also humiliated at checkpoints leading to Ariel, and that they will be considering legal action.
