By Alexander Cornwell
TEL AVIV, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Brad Lander, a US Democratic Party candidate for Congress, was detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, along with other Americans and Israelis harvesting olives alongside Palestinian farmers, rights groups said.
Lander later wrote on X that he had been released with a warning, which he said was apparently due to his public profile, but said several dozen rabbis and other participants were still detained.
“The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know,” he earlier posted, saying he had been detained by the military.
Lander was among a group of international volunteers, which one organiser said also included British and Canadian citizens, accompanying local Palestinian farmers, who often face the threat of violence from Israeli settlers, as an act of solidarity in what is known as protective presence.
Lander is a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate who is running for New York’s 10th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives in the November 3 midterm elections. He is an ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is critical of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
The annual olive harvest is a cultural tradition and important source of income for Palestinians. It is also often the target of violent attacks carried out by Israeli militants.
Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and other civilians in the West Bank over the weekend prompted a call by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to crack down on the violence.
Israel’s foreign ministry accused Lander of “looking for a confrontation” and said that he had ignored advice ahead of his visit that coordination with Israeli authorities was required.
The incident took place in Nahalin, a village south of Bethlehem, as Palestinians were gathering olives accompanied by around 80 volunteers, according to Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights and Jewish North American organisation T’ruah.
Israeli police said it had detained Palestinian olive harvesters and dozens of Israeli and foreign activists gathering olives near the fence of an Israeli settlement, saying it was prohibited. One of the foreign nationals was later released once it became known he was a congressional candidate, police said.
‘HARVESTING OLIVES IS NOT ILLEGAL’
The military said harvesting in that area, which is located near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, required prior coordination, which had not happened, and that those present had been detained. It did not say harvesting there was prohibited.
Mamdani wrote on X that Lander was among New Yorkers, including rabbis, who had been detained by Israel’s government for accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.
“Harvesting olives is not illegal. The occupation is,” he said, accusing Israel of genocide, and demanding the release of the other New Yorkers and an end to the Israeli occupation.
Israel’s government has denied accusations, including by a UN commission, and international and Israeli rights groups, that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Police later said 72 people had been released, some on condition that they stay away from the harvest area. It also said four foreign nationals would remain in custody until a hearing on Thursday to determine whether they would be deported.
Rabbis for Human Rights and T’ruah said Israeli military and police forces arrived around two hours after the Palestinians and volunteers began gathering olives, and informed them that they were in a closed military zone and would be detained.
The participants were not aware it was a closed military zone and offered to leave, Rabbis for Human Rights Acting Director Anton Goodman told Reuters by phone from the Beitar Illit police station, where he was being detained.
He said the Israeli forces accused the participants of disturbing the public and took them by bus to the station.
T’ruah Chief Executive Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who was among those detained, said that before the Israeli forces had arrived the volunteers had been picking olives with the Palestinian farmers “very peacefully”.
“We were obviously not doing anything violent but just the very act of picking olives together with Palestinian farmers was apparently disturbing for some,” said Jacobs, a 51-year-old rabbi from Manhattan, in a phone interview.
A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Jerusalem said it was aware of reports that US citizens had been detained and was monitoring the situation but declined further comment, citing privacy considerations.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, additional reporting by Pesha Magid; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Nick Zieminski and Bill Berkrot)
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