Israel has ordered the deportation of two US Jewish women who had travelled to the occupied West Bank to volunteer during the Palestinian olive harvest, the NGOs that facilitated their travel said Thursday.
In a joint statement, Solidarity of Nations and Rabbis For Human Rights, which organise volunteering during the olive season, said 11 people, including the two women, were detained before reaching the village of Burin, near Nablus.
The Israeli army had issued a closed military zone order, commonly used during the olive harvest to block access to Palestinian fields, and the volunteers had tried to reach the location via an alternative route.
“When the volunteers approached the soldiers to comply with their orders, they were detained,” the statement said.
The Israeli volunteers in the group were questioned at a police station and released, but the two US citizens were informed they would be deported.
The army referred AFP to Israel’s police, who did not provide a statement.
“The decision to deport these volunteers reflects an alarming trend of silencing non-violent human rights work and Jewish voices for justice in Israel-Palestine”, the NGO statement said.
Israeli and international volunteers regularly assist Palestinians picking olives, using a tactic known as “protective presence”, which aims to deter Israeli settlers from disrupting the harvest.
But the limitations of the approach have been shown during a particularly violent 2025 harvest season, with many recorded instances of clashes involving foreign and Israeli volunteers.
AFP journalists have witnessed at least eight settler attacks during this year’s harvest, which generally end with the army’s arrival, dispersal of crowds by tear gas, but almost never with any attackers arrested.
In the town of Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, a Swedish volunteer’s leg and arm were broken during clashes with masked settlers who came to disrupt a harvest, a local official told AFP.
More than 30 foreign volunteers were deported after being accused of breaking a closed military zone order earlier in October, also in Burin.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Around 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements and settlement outposts. A hardline minority of settlers engage in violent acts towards Palestinians.
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