2 foreign activists to be deported, banned from Israel over olive harvest with proscribed group

Two foreign pro-Palestinian activists will be deported tonight and banned from entering Israel in the future after they accompanied an unauthorized Palestinian olive harvest linked to a proscribed group near the southern West Bank’s Tuwani village, police say in a statement.

Police say the olive harvest near the village of Tuwani was “unapproved and uncoordinated.” In some areas of the West Bank, Israel bars Palestinians from harvesting olives or requires them to seek prior authorization from the Civil Administration.

The statement identifies the activists as a father and son but does not specify their nationality. It says they were detain yesterday and had a hearing at the Population and Immigration Authority this morning, though Palestinian media reported already on Monday that two foreign activists and a local Palestinian man were arrested in Tuwani.

According to police, the two activists were detained after they and Palestinian olive pickers fled to a military firing zone when police arrived on the scene of the harvest, which took place even though Israeli forces told Tuwani residents on Monday not to go through with it.

The activists were arrested on suspicion of both entering the firing zone illegally and “identification with the terrorist organization” al-Haq, which had “encouraged” the harvest, according to police.

Al-Haq is one of six Palestinian NGOs that then-defense minister Benny Gantz declared terrorist organizations in 2021, accusing them of ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.