Israel deporting 2 US Jews who entered closed IDF zone to aid Palestinian farmers

Two Jewish-American women who were participating in an initiative to help Palestinian olive growers harvest their crop in the northern West Bank were detained on Wednesday and are being processed for deportation from Israel.

The two women, along with nine other activists, were detained by the IDF in the Palestinian village of Burin — which was recently declared a closed military zone — and were taken first for a deportation hearing and then to Ramle immigration prison.

This is the second incident in two weeks in which activists supporting Palestinian olive growers have been detained for entering the closed military zone that was imposed on Burin on October 16.

The two women, one just out of high school and the other in her 50s, are in Israel on a four-month educational program with the Solidarity of Nations – Achvat Amim organization, and were volunteering for the harvest work with the Rabbis for Human Rights group.

According to Becca Strober, a spokesperson for Solidarity of Nations, the 11 activists traveled to Burin on Wednesday morning, but before reaching the village were told at an IDF checkpoint that the direction they were traveling in would take them to a closed military zone.

“After consulting with Rabbis for Human Rights leadership” the activists decided to try to reach their destination via a different route. Strober maintains they were not aware that the destination itself was in the closed military zone.

After the activists arrived at their destination they were intercepted again by the IDF and detained. All the volunteers were first taken to the Ariel Police Station in the West Bank, where the Israeli citizens were released with an order banning them from the West Bank for 15 days.

The two American women were told they were to be deported, taken for a deportation hearing at Ben Gurion Airport, and then taken to Ramle immigration prison for the night.

It is unclear when they will be deported.

“The police are arresting solidarity activists coming to support Palestinian farmers due to the settler violence against them during the olive harvest, instead of arresting the violent settlers who are making the presence of the solidarity activists necessary,” says Strober.

“This couldn’t be farther away from justice and legal logic, that the police are focusing their efforts on arresting those picking olives rather than those carrying out the extreme violence happening right now [against Palestinian olive growers].”

Director of Rabbis for Human Rights Avi Dabush described the detentions and deportations as “selective enforcement,” accusing the IDF and police of failing to arrest any settlers connected to the massive spate of violent incidents against Palestinians and their property in the two weeks since the olive harvest started.

By comparison, nine closed military zones have been declared around olive harvest areas preventing activists from entering to help the olive growers with their harvest, Dabush said.

“We operate legally and without violence, and it is a shame that the police and the army wasted an entire day removing people who came to stand by the side of people under attack.”

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.