JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday it had deported 14 Western activists who had gone to the occupied West Bank on solidarity missions with Palestinians facing violence from Israeli settlers.

Israeli authorities arrested them on Friday near Ramallah after an altercation between the activists and settlers, according to the Human Rights Defenders Fund, a group that provides legal support to activists who visit to support Palestinians.

The activists had gone with hopes of protecting Palestinians during their annual olive harvest, which has been hit by a surge of attacks by Israeli settlers who have beaten and stolen from the farmers.

“Fourteen foreigners who were staying in Israel on tourist visas were deported after being detained by security forces,” Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority said in a statement.

They were deported for “having violated legal provisions” of their visas and “disrupting public order,” it said.

The activists came from the United States, Canada, Italy and Germany, it added.

A spokeswoman for the agency said that the last of the activists was deported Sunday morning.

Israeli police said that three Palestinians were also arrested. A police statement accused the foreign activists of “provocative activities” aiming to trigger clashes and of backing “anti-Israeli media campaigns.”

But Sharona Weiss, the head of international advocacy at the Human Rights Defenders Fund, told AFP that the foreigners had been accompanying Palestinian farmers on their land “when settlers arrived and began attacking them.”

A journalist and a 77-year-old activist were among those expelled, she said. The group said another 15 foreigners including a journalist had been expelled the week before.

The deportations come amid growing international criticism of violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The Israeli rights group Yesh Din said it has documented more than 850 acts of violence committed by settlers during the five-week olive harvest.

Settlers have also attacked journalists covering the olive harvest, including photojournalists for AFP and The Washington Post, and beat up a visiting French mayor.

Israel has voiced anger over international criticism and ordered the closure of the British consulate after London imposed sanctions on products from Israeli settlements.