The Shin Bet security service is to acquire a security system based on new technology in order to prevent the need for separate personal checks of Arab passengers in airports, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said Monday.

Diskin told MK Nadia Hilou (Labor) of the Shin Bet's plans during a special meeting Monday at her office in the Knesset.

Hilou said that once the new technology has been introduced, identical checks will be conducted for Arab and Jewish passengers and will no longer include body searches for Arabs.

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According to Hilou, Diskin said the pilot program would begin this summer, and within a year would be widely used. The new system will apparently come at a high cost, though the actual price has not been released.

Security sources confirmed that a large sum would be invested to acquire more advanced technology. Haaretz has learned that even after the new technology is introduced, severe checks will still be carried out in exceptional cases, though not on Arab passengers alone.

The security checks at Ben Gurion International Airport have been denounced by many in the Arab sector as degrading. "We're talking about often degradation of Arab passengers, which causes great anger and frustration," said Hilou, adding, "I won't leave this subject alone until it has been resolved."

Diskin said that in some instances, those conducting security checks have already been instructed to ease their checks of Arab passengers.

Hilou and Diskin agreed to remain in contact to ensure coordination on the developing situation.

According to a report by the Nazareth-based Arab Association for Human Rights, security officials at airports often discriminate against Arab passengers.

Security experts say that the work of security investigators at Ben Gurion airport is based on two principles: maximizing the security margins and questioning passengers according to the profiling method.

In profiling, the investigators focus on passengers that belong to designated risk groups: Arabs are considered a higher security risk than Jews, young people are considered to be higher risk than elderly peaople, and educated people are considered to be higher risk than non-educated people.

A passenger belonging to a risk group is taken aside for a thorough inspection of his baggage and lengthy questioning.

The investigators examine the credibility of the person being questioned by posing questions with overlapping answers and searching for contradictions in the passengers' explanations.

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