Jewish settlers steal livestock in latest West Bank harassment

Jewish settlers stole two cows belonging to farmer Abdul Fattah Muhammad Zeidan in the Wadi Qana area of Deir Istiya, northwest of Salfit, on Thursday evening.

Zeidan told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that settlers slipped into the grazing area, took the animals and then fled towards nearby outposts.

Nazmi Al-Salman, an activist who monitors settler expansion, told Wafa: “The theft of the cows comes within the framework of a systematic policy aimed at putting pressure on farmers and forcing them to leave their lands. These practices are increasing in Wadi Qana, in an attempt to impose a new reality that serves colonial expansion in the region.”

Wadi Qana, one of Salfit’s key agricultural zones, has faced repeated settler attacks targeting farmers, crops and livestock, part of what Palestinians say is a wider campaign to empty the area for further Israeli settlement growth.