WATCH: IDF detains 90 West Bank olive harvest volunteers, including US congressional nominee Lander
Rabbis for Human Rights said that its volunteers were working near Bethlehem to accompany Palestinian farmers to groves as part of the olive harvest.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) detained 90 volunteers from Rabbis for Human Rights in the West Bank, including US congressional nominee Brad Lander (D-NY) and former deputy attorney-general Yehoshua Schoffman. The volunteers, who worked near Bethlehem during the olive harvest, were accompanying Palestinian farmers to groves.
The IDF arrived two hours after the volunteers began working and declared the field a closed military zone. Activists, both foreign nationals and Israeli citizens, were divided and transported to a police station for processing. No one was harmed during the process, according to one of the detained activists. The Palestinian farmers had been unable to access their olive groves for three years.
Lander stated that harvesting olives is not a crime, but the occupation is a crime under international law. Rabbis for Human Rights described their work as peaceful, yet they were still detained by the military. The organization's executive director, Anton Goodman, expressed frustration with the military's actions, stating that the army is keeping the farmers away from their land instead of protecting them.
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