STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have news in the Middle East this morning. Israeli security forces detained a group of activists, including an American who is running for Congress. They stopped Brad Lander, the American Democratic congressional nominee, along with American and Israeli rabbis. All of them were helping Palestinians who were harvesting olives during a surge of attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says it viewed the arrival of dozens of activists as, quote, "an act intended solely to provoke." Now, Lander and several others have been released, but Israeli lawyers tell NPR, this is the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade. NPR's Ruth Sherlock and our producer Samantha Balaban were at the scene, and, Ruth, why were the activists there?
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Well, really, they were hoping to protect the Palestinians that were picking the olives. That's because among this group of activists - about 80 people, Steve - there were American rabbis from the group T'ruah, many whom had flown from the U.S. for this, and the Israeli group, Rabbis For Human Rights. So they really hoped that they could, you know, dissuade attacks from settlers or from - or prevent - from the army preventing them to picking their olives. You know, this grove was right by the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the occupied West Bank. And Zena Reada (ph) - she was one of the Palestinians who owns land there - said this is the first time she's felt safe enough to go there since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, three years ago, because of the increase in settler violence.
ZENA READA: (Non-English language spoken).
SHERLOCK: She's saying, "I'm overjoyed that there are people in this world that come to support us and help us." The group did manage to pick olives for about two hours, but then we started hearing drones overhead. And the Israeli military and police arrived and declared the area a closed military zone.
INSKEEP: Which I think has been fairly common over the past several years.
SHERLOCK: Yes, but what isn't common is what happened next, which is that the Israeli security forces detained pretty much the entire group. We were ushered to a road where there was a bus waiting. And they put all the Israelis and Americans on it, including, like you said, Brad Lander, the U.S. Democratic Congressional nominee. He spoke with us during the day before he was detained.
BRAD LANDER: What's going on here cries out for attention. I feel that profoundly as an American Jew and as someone who's headed into the next Congress. My constituents don't want their tax dollars paying for this.
SHERLOCK: Two Israeli lawyers told NPR that this is the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade. And an Israeli human rights activist, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, he called the detentions unprecedented. We're learning now that Lander has been released, but the others remain detained.
INSKEEP: How does this fit in with other acts of violence?
SHERLOCK: Well, there has been a spate of violent attacks by Israeli settlers in recent months against Palestinians and Israeli peace activists. You know, back in July, a Democratic congressman, Ro Khanna, was detained by settlers and the Israeli military on a visit. And just last week, a group of masked settlers beat up and hospitalized an American female photographer from the Washington Post. And the next day - the very next day - settlers attacked a group of European diplomats who visited the West Bank. So clearly, the situation is extremely tense.
INSKEEP: Yeah. NPR's Ruth Sherlock in Jerusalem. Thanks so much.
SHERLOCK: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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