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(RNS) — On Oct. 21, I was harvesting olives alongside Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank when Israeli soldiers arrived and detained me, along with dozens of American and Israeli rabbis, human rights activists and other volunteers.

We had come to the village of Nahalin, near Bethlehem, to provide a protective presence for Palestinian farmers as part of an international solidarity coalition called Protect the Harvest. For three years, some of the families in the village have been unable to access their olive groves because of growing threats from Israeli extremists. With violence and intimidation making even the most ordinary agricultural work dangerous, our presence was intended to help them harvest safely.

For approximately two hours, we picked olives peacefully. Then, Israeli security forces arrived and declared the area a closed military zone.…