Fourteen activists face deportation after West Bank arrest

Israeli police said Sunday that 14 foreign activists are scheduled for deportation after their arrest in the central West Bank. The detainees were held alongside three Palestinians on suspicion of disturbing public order. The incident occurred during the annual olive harvest, a season that has seen a rise in confrontations between foreign volunteers, Palestinian farmers, and Israeli security forces.

During interrogations, police stated that the group intended to produce media campaigns against Israel. Authorities added that some detainees support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The investigation into the three Palestinian detainees remains open. A 2017 law permits Israel to deny entry to foreign nationals who publicly advocate for a boycott of the country or work for organizations that do so. This statute does not apply to Israeli citizens or permanent residents.

The Palestinian activist group Faz3a reported that Israeli forces detained 17 people on Friday in the village of Kafr Ni'ma, near Ramallah. According to the group, the detainees included 12 foreign volunteers, two foreign journalists, two Palestinian landowners, and one Faz3a member. Faz3a claimed that settlers attacked the group and held them until soldiers and police arrived to make the arrests.

Settler activists published footage showing detainees boarding a bus operated by the Mateh Binyamin Development Company. They stated that the municipal authority sent the vehicle to transport the group to a police station in Modiin Illit. The activists described the event as a planned harvest provocation near the settlement of Sde Efraim. The Hebrew name for the area is Mateh Binyamin.

This detention is part of a pattern of similar incidents during this year's harvest season. On November 1, police deported 13 foreign nationals after they allegedly violated a closed military zone order near Lubban al-Gharbiya. Alon Sapir, the group's lawyer, told The Times of Israel that 15 foreigners had arrived to assist with the harvest. He said soldiers presented them with a closed zone order that was issued for the area that same day.

In October, Israeli forces detained more than 70 foreign and Israeli activists who were harvesting olives in the West Bank. The group included Brad Lander, a US congressional candidate who has since been elected to Congress. The frequency of these detentions has raised questions among working families and civil rights observers about the legal status of foreign volunteers in the territory.

The 2017 law continues to shape how authorities treat these groups. It specifically targets those who call for a boycott of West Bank settlements. Police maintain that the current group fits this profile. The three Palestinians remain in custody as the investigation continues. No specific date for the deportation of the 14 foreigners has been announced.