Brit ‘held by gunpoint’ by IDF soldiers in occupied West Bank describes ‘terrifying’ ordeal

A British man who says he was held at gunpoint after being detained by the Israel Defence Forces in the occupied West Bank has described his ordeal as "terrifying". Daniel Snipe from Cardiff says he was helping Palestinian farmers with the olive harvest when he was arrested, and has since been banned from entering the country again for 10 years. Speaking exclusively with LBC, he claims his capture was the result of “a pre-election crackdown on foreign volunteers to the illegally occupied West Bank”.

Mr Snipe was with ten other international volunteers, including a 62-year-old Irish man, when they were arrested in the village of Al-Bweib, south of Hebron, last week on October 22. The group say they were acting as "solidarity activists" to protect Palestinian farmers from increased settler violence but were not involved in any activism when they were arrested. Israel’s Government disputes Mr Snipe’s account. Read more: Israel's election ends in stalemate as Netanyahu fails to secure overall majority Read more: Policeman kills knife attacker shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ outside Israel's embassy in Serbia It follows the arrest and detention of two MPs, Labour’s Clive Lewis and SNP member Lara Bird, along with Scottish Greens MSP Kate Nevens and three other European elected representatives, after they were refused entry to the West Bank via Jordan on Monday evening.

They said that before their arrest they had been due to meet Palestinian students and civil society leaders and accompany Palestinian farmers facing escalating Israeli settler violence during the olive harvest. Mr Snipe said his group had gone back to the home of a farmer for a cup of tea and some food when two IDF soldiers burst into the property. The 30-year-old union worker claims that during the encounter, a Palestinian man was seized, blindfolded, and placed in their car.

“We were then told we'd have to go otherwise these IDF soldiers weren't going to let this Palestinian [man] out of their car. So we said, right, we’ll get out of here as soon as we can,” he said. As the group prepared to leave, he said the soldiers demanded their passports and questioned why they were there, later accusing them of being in a ‘closed military zone’. Mr Snipe said: “We told them we weren't aware of that. We asked to see documentation.

We asked to see the map of the closed military zone but they didn't give us anything. “Later, I was told that by Israeli law they have to show you the order that had come in to make that place a closed military zone. They did none of that. “They didn't handle us roughly, but they did very much try and intimidate us. At several points, the soldiers aimed their weapons at us despite the fact that we were sitting down not doing anything. “It was scary, having guns aimed at you is a terrifying experience.

“Not knowing what was going on, not knowing where you were going, not knowing what was happening was alarming,” he added. “But I knew in those moments that I was experiencing a thousandth or a millionth of the problems and the struggle that Palestinians go through every day of their life.” Mr Snipe said they were held for around 25 hours at a police station near Hebron before being moved to an immigration centre just outside of Tel Aviv.

“Obviously, I've never been arrested in the UK, but I don't think I'd be treated the same way that these guys treated us,” he said. “They didn't tell us what was going on. They denied us access to phone calls. They weren't going to feed us until we kicked up a fuss. They weren't going to put us in beds until we kicked up a fuss. “When we were sleeping, they had the lights blazing on all night, making it very, very difficult to sleep. In the morning they came around and kicked all of our feet in order to wake us up.”

Mr Snipe said he was eventually allowed to speak to a lawyer but only while an Israeli police officer listened in. “Essentially the lawyer who I talked to explained to me that they [the IDF] were looking to do a crackdown on anyone being in the West Bank at the moment. “They'd concluded that we were there for reasons against their state and that's just not true. We weren't there to run amok in Israel. We were there to show solidarity with farmers.

But I think given the olive harvest period and given the Israeli elections, there was just a big crackdown on international volunteers coming to the West Bank.” Mr Snipe said he witnessed settler intimidation and violence every day of the two weeks he spent in the West Bank and had been in the village of Taybeh when Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers in the week before his arrest. The attack was condemned by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.

Speaking of the violence faced by the Palestinians from settlers, Mr Snipe claimed: “They're under constant attack from settlers. “For example, there was one night where we were spending time with the family, and the farmer’s mother came out into the living room with both of her arms in casts and a bandage around her head. He explained to us that a couple of weeks ago settlers had attacked her, they'd broken her arms, they'd pushed her over, they were kicking her on the floor.

“And that's just one story out of several hundred that we heard out there. Everyone in the West Bank has experienced some kind of attack and injury at some point. “A lot of them just don't understand why. A lot of them want to live in peace with the Israelis. And then some of them have a hatred for the state because of the constant attacks and harassment they receive.” He said Palestinians he met in the West Bank were split over the elections.

“Some of them were quite optimistic about Netanyahu's government being outed and for a new government to come in hoping things would get easier, maybe settler attacks might become less, maybe the settlements wouldn't expand as much,” he said. "But what they consider to be easier is having your arm broken every two months rather than every two days. “There are some that remain very hopeful that there can be some kind of peaceful resolution, but then a lot doubt there’ll be any kind of improvement to their lives."

He added: “It was breathtaking to see how resilient they are in the face of extreme adversity, carrying on with their day-to-day lives - sitting around a table at dinnertime laughing with their kids - one of the priests we met there said that ‘to lose hope is the greatest sin’.” The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the West Bank given a heightened state of tension and violent clashes since the conflict began in October 2023.

In a statement, the Israeli Embassy said: “Several foreign activists and a Palestinian were detained following an incident in an agricultural area subject to a military closure order. The individuals refused to comply with the instructions of IDF soldiers. “They were detained by police for questioning on suspicion of violating the closure order and obstructing soldiers in the performance of their duties. “Following the questioning it was determined that two of the foreign activists had been involved in activities against Israel, including expressing support for terrorism.

“The foreign nationals were transferred to the relevant immigration authorities for further action regarding their removal from Israel.” Mr Snipe strongly refutes the embassy's claims. The IDF has been contacted for comment but is yet to respond.