Four American activists threatened with deportation released from detention with ban from West Bank

The final four civil rights activists of several dozen detained yesterday by security forces after helping Palestinian olive growers harvest their crop have been released from detention, the Rabbis for Human Rights organization, which arranged the harvesting activity, says.

Although the police said Wednesday night that it would be transferring the four activists, all Americans, to the Population and Immigration Authority for deportation from Israel, the Rabbis for Human Rights organization says they have now been released and issued 15-day exclusion orders from the West Bank.

The organization says another 28 Israeli activists were issued exclusion orders from the West Bank for between 15 and 30 days, and 38 international activists were released without condition.

Over 70 activists were detained by the IDF and police on Wednesday, and were accused of carrying out olive harvesting in an area requiring coordination with the military, which had not been carried out.

Military maps demonstrated however, that the land where the activists worked did not require prior coordination.

Yehoshua Schoffman, a former deputy attorney general, who was among the participants in the olive harvest and was detained, says the detainees were actually questioned under caution for alleged violations of the law which, he said, had no basis in the events of the day.

“This is the way the authorities thwart assistance provided by Israelis during the olive harvest,” writes Schoffman on X.

“There are those who go to great lengths to prevent Palestinian residents from harvesting olives on land they own. Sometimes this involves severe physical violence; at other times, it entails the theft of the crop. In most cases, the police and the military fail to enforce the law against these perpetrators and thieves. Now, they are also attempting to block assistance from Israelis—as well as Jews from abroad—who neither engage in nor encourage violence of any kind.”