Israeli airport to build Muslim prayer room

JERUSALEM, Dec 22 (Reuters) Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport is to construct an Islamic prayer room for the first time as part of efforts to improve relations with Muslim travellers.

For years, Muslim travellers, including Israeli Arabs, have complained that Israel's main airport, with its stringent security checks and lack of Arabic signs, has treated them poorly, and sometimes even in a humiliating fashion.

Israeli Arabs make up about 20 per cent of the Jewish state's population of some 7 million people.

Arabic is the country's second official language behind Hebrew, but when the new airport complex was opened in 2004, Israeli Arabs complained that there were no signs in Arabic, only English and Hebrew.

''(Ben-Gurion Airport) is determined to strengthen ties with the Arab sector ... We have received a number of requests from passengers and even members of parliament to allocate a small space (for prayer) with appropriate facilities,'' airport spokesman Shmuel Hefetz said.

The airport has also added more Arabic-speaking security officers to build trust with Arab travellers who complain of discrimination during routine security checks, saying they are almost always subjected to more questioning than Jews.

Ben Gurion handles about 8.5 million passengers a year.

REUTERS PKS RN0422