(Image: AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Observers who were detained at an olive harvest in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have spoken out, as Israel prepares to fully close the West Bank.
On Wednesday, around 80 people, including nine British citizens, several rabbis, and Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander were detained near Nahalin.
The group were in the West Bank as part of the Protect the Harvest campaign, which aims to support Palestinians in the olive harvesting season. Those arrested were affiliated with PtH itself or partners Standing Together, the Bereaved Families’ Forum and Na’amod.
They were taken to the nearby illegal settlement of Beitar Illit, which was founded on land confiscated from Nahalin and another village named Husan, where they were detained for eight or nine hours.
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The Israel Defence Forces said in a statement the landowner "was informed that he must coordinate the olive harvest on his plot of land" by giving notice in advance.
Palestinians looking to harvest olives are often attacked and intimidated, with at least 170 attacks since September 27, around the start of the annual harvest.
One of the British citizens who was detained, who asked not to be named before leaving Jerusalem, told The Herald: "We were harvesting in Area C, the land is privately owned by a number of families from the village.
“There was no closed military zone, which exist in some parts of the West Bank, there was no preventative order for harvesting there.
“After about two hours the police emerged with the IDF and at least one armed settler. They asked the central command of the army to issue this retroactive zoning, they didn’t warn us that they were going to have this issued they just said it had been signed.
Israeli soldiers are seen during an army raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Al-Ain, near Nablus (Image: AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
“The armed settler was super pally with the military, they were having a smoke together, laughing and patting each other on the back.
“Normally when they designate a closed area you’re entitled to a reasonable amount of time to vacate the area. We said of course we’d leave now it had been designated a closed zone but they detained us anyway.
“They said, and the IDF published later, that we needed co-ordination and a permit to harvest there which is absolutely untrue – one of the rabbis who was leading the group was actually told by one of the officers that no co-ordination request was required.
"We were given three charges: disturbing the public order, entering a zone we weren’t allowed into (which is a lie, they said it was Area A when it was Area C), and going into a closed military zone which was also untrue.
"I can safely say we didn’t go to any village or any farmer who had not been attacked at some point by settlers.
“One group was harvesting when the primary school was attacked by settlers, so while they were harvesting they were listening to the children screaming. Another visited a town where they showed the ransacked houses.
“Some of the olive trees had quite a few olives on them because if they aren’t harvested frequently they produce fewer olives, despite the fact it’s their land they can’t take the risk.
“One of the owners of the olive grove was taken with us and detained for harvesting her own land. We hope that the bags of olives were not confiscated and given to the settlers, because often what happens is the IDF comes and takes the farmers away and the settlers steal the bags of olives.”
On Friday Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to prepare for a full closure of the West Bank.
Israeli settlers walk along the road between Ganim and Kadim as they celebrate the inauguration of the newly built illegal Kadim outpost in the occupied West Bank (Image: AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Overnight soldiers shot and killed two Palestinian men near Hebron in the occupied territory, with the Israeli government saying they had thwarted a “terror attack” that injured several people. The IDF later said two soldiers were killed in the attack.
The British citizen said: "This morning we went out for a final harvest in this little village which was almost like a ghost town because the villagers were too frightened to leave their houses because they’re constantly attacked by settlers, there was a very new outpost on the hilltops.
“We harvested with a lot of Israeli volunteers today because it’s Friday, there were quite a few settlers on the hilltops watching us and starting to move their vehicles toward us, at which point the organisers got the non-Israelis onto a bus to leave.
“They came down and blocked the road with their vehicles, they were taking photos of everyone and were very aggressive but there were fewer of them than us.
“Luckily we were able to find an alternative way out and we got ourselves to Jerusalem.
“There was an incident in the Hebron hills so they’re locking it down but all of our group made it out before that.”