Have you ever heard of Palestinian American Muslim women being forced to remove some of their hijab in order to get their passport photos approved at the Jerusalem Consulate? I am an American Muslim living in the Jerusalem area.
Recently I went to the US Consulate in Jerusalem to renew my daughters’ passports. The girls and I are US citizens by birth, and their father is a naturalized citizen. My teenage daughters wear scarves as is required by our religion. In the past, I have had no problem getting my passports made. I had one made about 18 years ago in the US, and I renewed that one at the US consulate in 1995 in Jerusalem. In both these passports’ photos, I wore my scarf in the usual manner, with my hair and ears covered, and my face showing. But when we applied for my daughters’ new passports, they refused to accept the pictures, saying that they had to show their faces to their hairline and ears. I had the pictures re-taken, with the scarf pulled back to their hairline and ears, but keeping the hair and ears covered, as is required by our religion. These pictures were also rejected. I checked with some of my friends living in the US to see if they had any problem getting their passport pictures made with their ears and hair covered, and they didn't. Nor did a sister I know who renewed hers in Jordan. It seems like the Jerusalem consulate is enforcing a stricter rule than is used in the US. WHY? We need our passports, but don’t want to violate our religion. How can the US consulate in Jerusalem have a stricter standard than the passport offices in the US? How is seeing my daughters' ears and hair going to make them more identifiable, if they ALWAYS have them covered in any situation where the passports would be used for identification? I believe this is a violation of our religious rights, and discrimination based on my daughters’ ethnicity.

There are a lot of Palestinian Americans living in or visiting Jerusalem and the West Bank, who may need to have new passports made at the Jerusalem Consulate. Why should a different rule apply to us than other American Muslims? All I want is our passports renewed, without having to violate our religious beliefs in the process. 

I am hoping to contact other Muslim women who have faced this situation to see if we can force the Consulate to stop violating our rights. Could you help me try to contact them? Also, I want to try to prove that other American Citizen Services in other countries’ embassies are not making women uncover their ears and hairline, so I would also like to hear from sisters who have had passports made overseas. Thank you. I will be grateful for any advice or help you may offer.