Lievnath Faber, a Dutch Jewish rabbi in training, has been helping Palestinian families harvest olives in and around Burin, near Nablus, since 27 October. She is working with 13 other rabbis and rabbis in training from the United States and Canada through the organizations Rabbis for Ceasefire and the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. The volunteers say their presence is intended to support families during the harvest and deter attacks by Israeli settlers, although Faber said the volunteers can also be targeted.

Palestinian farmers described the harvest as increasingly dangerous and said settlers had attacked families, damaged property and set fires in villages. Faber also said she had heard accounts of Israeli soldiers entering homes, using pepper spray and removing farmers from tractors for questioning. She said she had hidden from soldiers during a military lockdown of Burin; local agricultural cooperative co-founder Ghassan Najjar was arrested that day, and the army had not publicly commented on the arrest. Faber also wants to raise awareness of the Palestinian families’ experiences in the Netherlands, including within the Jewish community.