Assalamu alaykum - Foreign volunteers assisting Palestinian olive harvests deported from West Bank
Assalamu alaykum. I wanted to share this update: Israeli authorities have ordered the deportation of 32 foreign volunteers who were helping Palestinians with the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. According to reports, the deportations followed a complaint by a local settlements council leader, who called the volunteers “anarchists” and said they staged provocations in the Samaria area.
One of those deported, a 30-year-old British man named Rudy Schulkind, said he had travelled to the West Bank to support Palestinian farmers. He and others say they were detained for 72 hours after soldiers declared the grove they were working in a military zone, a tactic they say is often used against Palestinians. The group was reportedly arrested in an olive grove near Nablus and Schulkind said none of them were brought before a judge during detention.
Officials said the deportation order was signed by senior ministers and accused the volunteers of breaking a military commander’s order and having ties to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). The UAWC is a Palestinian agricultural NGO that was designated by Israel as a terrorist group in 2021 - a move criticised by the UN. Organizers say the volunteers took part in a “National Campaign” coordinated by several Palestinian NGOs and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture; UAWC says it was a participant but not the main organizer.
The Palestinian foreign ministry has condemned the arrests. The olive season has been especially tense this year, with a rise in vandalism and settler attacks, and many international volunteers come to provide a protective presence for farmers.
May Allah protect the innocent and grant ease to those suffering. Please keep the farmers, volunteers, and families affected in your duas.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/