Israeli troops detained about 80 volunteers helping Palestinians pick olives near Nahalin in the West Bank, including New York congressional nominee Brad Lander.
The group included people from the US, Israel and Britain, as well as several rabbis and a former Israeli deputy attorney general. They were taken towards a police station after the detention near Bethlehem. Lander, the Democratic nominee, posted from the bus that he had been detained with rabbis and other volunteers while harvesting olives.
The incident comes amid violence against Palestinians gathering olives and people accompanying them across the occupied West Bank. Recent attacks on a US photojournalist, European diplomats and a French mayor drew international condemnation and calls for Israeli authorities to act against settler militants.
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