LONDON: A Sky News reporting team was confronted by Israeli troops during a recent assignment in the West Bank, the network disclosed on Friday.
Adam Parsons, Sky News Middle East correspondent, recounted that the Israeli military approached as his crew was filming a segment focused on the olive harvest season in Palestine.
“As we film, an Israeli military vehicle comes along a track and stops in a cloud of dust,” he wrote in the reportage titled “Defiance in the West Bank — despite encroaching threat from ‘unwanted neighbours.’”
Parsons continued: “The soldiers emerge and tell us we have to leave for our own protection, claiming that this olive grove is, in fact, a closed military zone.”
The correspondent, who was visiting the site of a recent attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian woman, said the military did not clarify what threat necessitated their departure.
Instead, they showed him and his crew a WhatsApp image of a basic map marked by a rectangle, describing it as a military order.
“We’re then told we can’t leave, and that the police are on the way to arrest us. We discuss the law. And then, as suddenly as it started, it’s over — we’re free to go. It’s just another flare-up on the West Bank.”
Our film from the West Bank, when we heard stories of violence, met the victims, saw an outpost being set up, and got detained by the IDF. All in one day
Palestinian farmers are 'attacked' and 'intimidated' during this year's ...
— Adam Parsons (@adamparsons)
In a statement to Sky News, the Israel Defense Forces said troops had been deployed “to thwart terrorism.”
The army also stated it “strongly condemns violence of any kind” and announced a review into the attacks reported by the network.
Violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has surged dramatically in recent years.
A growing number of settlers, supported by the government and shielded by military protection, have established makeshift outposts in the territory, often with little accountability.
Incidents of intimidation, harassment, violence, and even killings have become a daily occurrence, preventing Palestinians from accessing essential services and their own land, including olive groves.
Faced with worsening conditions, many Palestinians have abandoned the annual olive harvest, a centuries-old tradition typically observed in October and November.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under both international and Israeli laws.
Human rights organizations and UN experts described Israel’s actions in the West Bank as one of “total apartheid.”
