NAHALIN, West Bank, and TEL AVIV, Israel — U.S. Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was detained along with about 80 American and Israeli rabbis and activists detained by Israeli security forces as they helped Palestinians harvest olives from their grove close to a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
This is the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade, two Israeli lawyers who work on these cases told NPR. And Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a longtime Israeli human rights proponent, called the detentions "unprecedented."
It was not clear what they accused the group accused of by Israeli authorities. Israel's military and police did not immediately comment. The military had said the area was a closed military zone.
"We've been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives, and let's be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law," Lander said in a video he filmed from the bus the group was loaded onto to be taken to the police station. "Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law."
American rabbis from the U.S. organization T'ruah, the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights and other activists had joined Palestinian families in picking olives at their grove in Nahalin, close to the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit.
Olive harvesting is an important time for Palestinians both culturally and economically. But it has become increasingly hard for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to access their fields. Several Palestinians there told NPR they have been unable to harvest their olive trees there since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, saying it had become too dangerous in the face of rising settler attacks in the occupied West Bank.
The detentions come less than a week after American photojournalist Heidi Levine, working for The Washington Post was assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the latest journalist to come under attack during the Palestinian olive harvest season.
Democratic congressman Ro Khanna of California was also briefly detained by Israeli forces during his trip to the West Bank in July.
On Wednesday, the group of Americans and Israelis joined the Palestinian farmers hoping their presence would help them harvest in peace.
After roughly two hours, drones began circling overhead and Israeli security forces arrived and declared the area a closed military zone. They detained the Israeli and American activists and took them to the police station for questioning. The rabbinical human rights group T'ruah said a Palestinian family was also detained.
"Let us be clear about what happened here: Rather than protecting Palestinian farmers and ensuring their right to work their own land, the Israeli military forcibly removed those who came to provide a protective presence," T'ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs said in a statement. "This is an outrageous abuse of power, and part of a systematic, state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at driving Palestinians from their land," she said.
Israeli authorities have rejected accusations of ethnic cleansing.
This is a developing news story that will be updated.
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