Israel expels international activists amid West Bank crackdown
Hamza Yusuf
While global attention remains fixed on Gaza, where Israel’s relentless 20-month punishing assault shows no sign of waning, the West Bank is facing its own escalating wave of violence.
But those seeking to raise awareness and stand in solidarity with the Palestinians are being silenced. On 31 May, two international human rights activists – Irish national D. Murphy, 70, and Susanne Björk, 48, from Sweden – were arrested by the Israeli authorities and threatened with deportation.
The pair had been standing in solidarity with residents of Khalet Al’Daba, one of several villages in the South Hebron Hills – known locally as Masafer Yatta – facing imminent displacement.
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on 4 May 2022 that the eviction of Masafa Yatter’s inhabitants could go ahead. Since then, military activity in the area has intensified. Israel’s execution of this large-scale expulsion would amount to forcible transfer – a war crime and a crime against humanity, according to Amnesty International.
In response, Masafer Yatta residents have issued urgent calls for international support, asking volunteers around the world to ‘document with us, and stand in solidarity with the families’ in the face of mounting aggression and the imminent prospect of expulsion.
Additionally, there has been an uptick in settler violence, with Israelis from nearby illegal outposts destroying Palestinian homes, and attacking residents.
At the same time, the Israeli government recently announced a further 22 illegal settlements to be established on Palestinian land, signalling the collective commitment by settlers and the state to Palestinian dispossession. In Khalet Al-Dabaa, Israeli forces have already destroyed the majority of its homes and structures.
Yet those treated as criminals are the ones trying to document it. Murphy, who lives in the UK, now faces the prospect of jail time in Israel after refusing to agree to her removal. Fellow activist Björk was deported on 2 June.
According to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the two women were given just 48 hours to appeal their deportations – a timeline activists say violates international due process standards.
The removals are part of a wider crackdown that has seen around 20 foreign nationals deported by Israeli authorities since 7 October 2023.
The rate of removals escalated last year after Israeli far right minister Itamar Ben Gvir created a special task force to expel foreign human rights observers. Speaking to New Internationalist, the head of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Zoë Lawlor, called Israel’s criminalizing of global solidarity ‘outrageous’.
They added that ‘people who go to bear witness and stand with Palestinians under attack by settlers and soldiers are to be commended, not detained and deported’.
A clear pattern is emerging. On Tuesday 3 June, it was reported that a convoy of 20 international reporters were also stopped by masked Israeli forces from entering the villages in Masafer Yatta.
Israel’s aim is ostensibly not only to seize the land, but to do so without witnesses.
— Hamza Yusuf (@hamza.a96)
📰 Read our review of No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary which spotlighted the land grab in Masafer Yatta, whose Palestinian co-director was violently attacked by Israeli settlers and arrested, shortly after winning the accolade.
👉 Follow Basel Al Adra, resident of Masafer Yatta and co-director of ‘No Other Land’
✅ Support Youth of Sumud, which protects schoolchildren, shepherds and residents who often face harassment and violence from Israeli settlers and the military
🖊️ Contact your MP to raise awareness of Murphy’s case and the struggle of Palestinian communities facing expulsion in Masafer Yatta
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