Governorate: Nablus
Village: Aqraba
Type of violation: toxication of of sheep
Perpetrator: Israeli settlers living in the settlement of Itimar which was built on land confiscated from the villages of Awarta, Beit Furik and Yanun.
Date of violation: 20-8-2001
Number of dead sheep: 128
Name of exact location: Valley Yanun located 3.5 km north west of Aqraba village.

A glimpse on Aqraba:

Situated 17 km to the north east of Nablus city. It has  a population of  10000 inhabitants mostly work in agriculture, especially olive cultivation and animal  breeding. The number of livestock in the village is estimated at 15000. The total area of the village land is 100000 dunums. Two colonies were built on the village land: the first of which  carries the name of Jetit which was built in 1980; the second carries the name of Ma'ale Efraim built in 1982. To construct the aforementioned two colonies, the Israeli government had confiscated 50% of the village land.

 

A glimpse on Itimar settlement:

 Established on land belonging to Awarta, Beit Furik and Yanun in Nablus governorate at the beginning of the eighties after the confiscation of thousands of dunums. In 1997, four new colonist nucleus were built on land belonging to Beit Furik and Yanun at the distance of 3-4 km to the east of the original settlement site. Since the establishment of this settlement, its inhabitants using either trained dogs or weapons, frequently attack Palestinian shepherds and farmers to prevent them from tending their land and livestock.

The violation details:

At 6:30 AM on 20.8.2001,   a number of shepherds who were grazing their flocks in Wadi Yanun got surprised when a group of Israeli settlers opened fire at them. The Palestinian shepherds fled the scene leaving their flocks behind. They went to the headquarters of the Palestinian Civil Coordination Committee (DCO) who contacted the Israeli side. The Israeli DCO arrived at the scene after midnight and found dozens of sheep dead. After conducting veterinary tests it was discovered that the settlers had fed the animals with poisonous grass. 4 of the dead sheep were slaughtered. The following people own the dead animals:

1.     AbdulGhani Abdullah Mahmud Bani Jaber (60 heads).

2.     Nafez Nasser Ahmad Bani Jaber (48 heads).

3.     Nimr Naif (10 heads).

4.     Abdullah Abu- Shehada (10 heads)

     Total heads: 128.

Veterinary report:

Dr. Iyad Bahjat Nabulsi, deputy director of Nablus Veterinary Services (NVS), together  with Mr. Abdulhamid Sharaf, Inspector of livestock at the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) visited the violation site on 20.8.2001 at noon. Following the visit, a vet. Report was issued confirming the following: '' We found 128 heads of sheep, local species, laying dead on the ground, four of them slaughtered. Having done autopsy on  one of the dead sheep, I found no diseases but poisonous syndromes. I took quantities of a strange material I found on the bodies of the dead sheep and on the ground. The NVS will send two bodies of the dead animals to  Beit Dajan Laboratory  for further analysis''.

Financial losses: 

A report issued by the Inspector of livestock at MOA  gave the following estimation of financial losses: 

Farmer name	No. of dead animals		Price per head in JD		Total
No. of male sheep	No. of female sheep	Male sheep	Female sheep
AbdulGhani Abdullah Bani Jaber	8	52	400	250	16200
Nafez Nasser  Bani Jaber	6	42	400	250	12900
Nimr Naif	–	10	–	250	2500
Abdullah Abu- Shehada	–	10	–	250	2500
General total				34100

 

Eyewitness accounts:

In an interview with the field worker of the Land Research Center (LRC), Mr. AbdulGhani Bani Jaber, 65 years old, and one of the owners, gave the following account: '' I was leading my cattle across the main road between the towns of Aqraba and Yanun when I came under a surprise gun fire attack by almost ten Israeli settlers who were heavily armed. I was forced to leave my sheep behind and run away to escape death. When I returned later I found dozens of  sheep laying dead on the ground''.

In another interview with LRC field worker, Mr. Nafez Bani Jaber, another owner,  said:  '' On 20.8.2001, at 6:30 AM I was along with other shepherds, grazing our cattle estimated at 1000 sheep opposite the village. Suddenly, a group of settlers appeared and started to open fire at us. We fled the scene to avoid death, and stopped at the top of a neighboring hill  to view the scene. I saw them slaughtering some sheep and doing mysterious thing to other sheep. We headed to the village to inform the Palestinian DCO. At about midnight, patrols of Israeli DCO arrived at the site and opened fire in the air. When we reached the place we found remains of containers with some liquids inside as well as quantities of chemical material and syringes. I saw the sheep dying one by one''.  

In a third interview with Mr. Nasser Abu- Jubraneh, he said the following:'' I saw 7  armed settlers walking in front of three small tractors. They were opening fire in the air''.

Israeli police:

A spokesman for the Israeli police said that samples were taken from the bodies of dead animals and sent for analysis in Beit Daggan agricultural laboratory.  The spokesman added that the police was envisaging the case. However, no results were released so far.

The mayor of Aqraba holds settlers responsible:

The mayor of Aqraba, Mr. Ghaleb Miadneh held Israeli settlers responsible for the attack. He said that this crime came as part of the ongoing and frequent aggressions being committed at the hands of Israeli settlers, including kidnapping, torturing , shooting, cutting of trees and setting fire to Palestinian crops. He added that  these crimes are being carried out with no deterrent of any kind from the Israeli security forces who maintain heavy presence in the area to punish Palestinians olny.

 

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC