On 14 September, the Israeli occupation authorities arrested a herd of cows under the pretext that they had approached a military closed zone in the northern Jordan Valley.

The herd owned by Borhan Ali Zamel from Al Malih is being detained at the Tayseer military check point. In the Jordan Valley even cows might become political prisoners in the world’s only prison for animals. As this incident indicates, the occupation authorities’ harsh policies exceed all reasonable and unreasonable limits. The last time animals were arrested was in 1991, when a herd of goats was detained. These measures are part of the policy of coercion and pressure the occupation authorities impose on the Palestinian people in the Jordan Valley with the clear aim of driving them from their land. Collective punishment does not end with the detention of the livestock: Palestinian farmers are obliged to pay fines to ‘liberate’ their abducted animals. The ransom for goats is 5 â Euro and 10 â Euro for each cow.