Six Italians stopped in the West Bank, 'release them immediately'

The hard line of the Israeli authorities makes no concessions to international activists committed to supporting the Palestinians in the West Bank: in the last few hours, 14 foreign volunteers were arrested while helping farmers harvesting olives. Among them there are 6 Italians, including two journalists and Giorgia Lombardi, municipal councilor of La Spezia and member of the national council of Green Europe.

Expulsion procedures are scheduled to begin for them tomorrow with the first available flights. But in the meantime, political controversy has inevitably exploded over yet another episode against Italian citizens in the West Bank, with the opposition calling on the government for their immediate release.

"We are following the case", replied Antonio Tajani, underlining that the activists "did nothing, they were just there doing agricultural work in the olive harvest". In a note, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the group of activists was taken to the Modi'in Illit police station after being stopped on Friday near the village of Kafr Ni'ma.

For now, the details of their arrest are limited to those provided by councilor Lombardi in a voice message quoted by Angelo Bonelli, who gave the names of four of the six Italians involved: in addition to Lombardi there are Lorenzo Diofili, Aurora Valentini and Cosimo Dondini. The other two would be the Brescian photojournalist Paula Jesus and her partner Marco Cola, president of a third sector association, filmed by the cameras of the Israeli broadcaster Channel13.

"The Palestinians were brutally beaten by Israeli settlers and international volunteers were attacked", denounced the Avs MP and co-spokesperson for Green Europe. "The Israeli army and police intervened and, instead of arresting the settlers responsible for the violence, they arrested the volunteers engaged in the olive harvest, taking away their passports."

A reconstruction that does not differ much from those of previous episodes, most recently the arrest last week of five other Italian activists, also involved in supporting the olive harvest in the West Bank. Four of them accepted expulsion with immediate proceedings and returned on 31 October, while a fifth, the teacher Donato Ferdori, chose the judicial procedure and was repatriated on Thursday.

"We are faced with yet another unacceptable episode of violence attributable to the policies of Netanyahu's criminal government, which the Italian government continues to tolerate", Bonelli attacked, defining "unacceptable that those who help the Palestinians peacefully are arrested while those who exercise violence go unpunished". This was echoed by the Democratic Party which called Giorgia Meloni into question: "The Prime Minister repeats that Italy has commanded respect since it was led by her. Prove it", said Andrea Orlando. The Farnesina assured that the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate general in Jerusalem have intervened with the Israeli authorities to request the immediate release of the compatriots, obtain clarifications on the circumstances of the detention and guarantee the necessary consular assistance. On Saturday "the transfer to the center of Ben Gurion airport is expected in view of the start of the expulsion procedures, which will take place with the first available flights", the ministry reported.