Two Jewish-American women who were participating in an initiative to help Palestinian farmers harvest their olive crop in the northern West Bank were detained on Wednesday by security forces, and deportation processes were initiated against them.
The two women, along with nine other activists, were detained by the IDF in the Palestinian village of Burin for allegedly entering a recently issued closed military zone, and were taken first for a deportation hearing at Ben Gurion Airport and then to the nearby Ramle immigration prison.
This is the second incident in two weeks in which activists supporting Palestinian olive growers have been detained for entering the closed military zone that was imposed on the whole of Burin, without prior notice, on October 16.
The olive harvest season has, for several years, seen high numbers of attacks by extremist settlers on Palestinian olive growers. This year has witnessed particularly intense violence in an apparent effort to undermine the viability of the key industry for rural Palestinian economic life.
The two women, one just out of high school and the other in her 50s, are in Israel on a four-month educational program with the Solidarity of Nations – Achvat Amim organization, and were volunteering for the harvest work with Rabbis for Human Rights.
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Palestinians harvest olives in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, October 20, 2025. (Hazem BADER / AFP)
According to Becca Strober, a spokesperson for Solidarity of Nations, the 11 activists traveled to Burin on Wednesday morning, but before reaching the village, were told at an IDF checkpoint that the direction they were traveling in would take them to a closed military zone.
After consulting with Rabbis for Human Rights leadership, the activists decided to try and reach their destination via a different route, with Strober maintaining they were not aware that the destination itself was in the closed military zone.
After the activists arrived at their destination, they were intercepted again by the IDF and detained. All the volunteers were first taken to the Ariel Police Station in the West Bank, where the Israeli citizens were released with an order banning them from the West Bank for 15 days.
The two American women, however, were told they would be deported, taken for a deportation hearing at Ben Gurion Airport, and then taken to Ramle immigration prison for the night.
It is unclear exactly when they will be deported.
The IDF and the Israel Police said in a joint statement that they had conducted an operation together with the Population and Immigration Authority in Burin after “identifying organized activities of Israeli and foreign activists who arrived at the scene while endangering public security and causing friction on the ground.”
The statement said that the Samaria District Police in the West Bank were working in accordance with the policies of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to “locate and stop foreign elements involved in incitement and provocations which create disturbances of the public order.”
The police added that the two women being deported had violated the terms of their tourist visas.
Rabbi Danielle Stillman, the mother of the young woman who was arrested, called the deportation “outrageous and sad,” and said she was very proud of her daughter for her commitment to both Israel and her solidarity with Palestinian olive growers who have faced repeated, violent attacks from extremist settlers in recent weeks and months.
Israeli settlers take pictures of foreign activists and farmers while they attempt to disrupt the harvest of olive groves by Palestinian farmers, in the West Bank town of Silwad, October 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
“I believe these are the small actions of cooperation and humanization which will be the building blocks of peace,” Stillman told The Times of Israel.
She said that her daughter had “chosen Israel over and over again,” noting that she had spent the summer in Israel in 2024, “when war was raging” as a participant on the Bronfman Fellowship program, and chose to come back again this year while the war was still ongoing.
“The fact that an 18-year-old who chose to spend part of her gap year in Israel and contribute to society in this non-violent way and be deported for it is outrageous to me, and sad, continued Stillman.
She said it also made her worried for the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, at a time when, she said, “young Jews are being pushed further from Israel and are looking for something positive to draw them close.”
Asked about the police and IDF’s description of the detention and deportation of the activists as having “endangered public security and causing friction on the ground,” Stillman said she hoped the security services would use the same authority to prevent friction and the endangerment of public security “to stop settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as well.
“I’ve [also] been on these olive harvests and I haven’t seen any friction caused by them,” she said.
Director of Rabbis for Human Rights Avi Dabush described the detentions and deportations as “selective enforcement,” accusing the IDF and police of failing to arrest any settlers connected to the massive spate of violent incidents against Palestinians and their property in the two weeks since the olive harvest started.
By comparison, nine closed military zones have been declared around olive harvest areas, preventing activists from entering to help the olive growers with their harvest, Dabush said.
“We operate legally and without violence, and it is a shame that the police and the army wasted an entire day removing people who came to stand by the side of people under attack.”
“The police are arresting solidarity activists coming to support Palestinian farmers due to the settler violence against them during the olive harvest, instead of arresting the violent settlers who are making the presence of the solidarity activists necessary,” said Strober.
“This couldn’t be farther away from justice and legal logic, that the police are focusing their efforts on arresting those picking olives rather than those carrying out the extreme violence happening right now [against Palestinian olive growers].”
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