Human Rights Report No. 349

Date of incident: 08.05. 2008

Place: Wadi Qana, Salfit District
Witness/es: Owner

Contact details: IWPS withholds this information as a courtesy to those involved – we will do our best to furnish you with all the relevant information you might need to begin action.

Description of Incident:

Two donkeys – an adult and a foal – were stolen by settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yaqir from a Palestinian farmer while he was tending his fields. The farmer from the village of Dier Istyia had gone to his land in Wadi Qana with the two donkeys. He tied the donkeys up and then went to work at a distance in his field. The farmer noticed settler youth approaching the donkeys and removing them from the field. He was unable, however, to stop them taking the donkeys as he was too far away.

IWPS members were asked to accompany the farmer to Yaqir settlement in order to recover the donkeys, which had been seen earlier just inside the fence of the settlement. IWPS team members approached the settlement security and explained the situation and asked for the return of the donkeys. Initially the settlement security were reluctant to assist, however, the Palestinian farmer were insistent on the return of the donkeys. The IWPS team and the farmer waited for two hours outside the settlement. Eventually, two more settlement guards arrived and the farmer gave a description of the donkeys and the place they had been seen. The security guards went looking for it and within 15 minutes, the farmer was advised that he could retrieve the two donkeys and was allowed to enter the settlement. IWPS team members, however, were prevented from entering to accompany the farmer.