Family of British national arrested while 'protecting Palestinian farmers' in Israel slam 'shameful' response of UK authorities

Family of a British national have criticised the response of the British government as a "moral travesty" and said they were "left in the dark" after reports he was arrested by Israeli police while helping Palestinians with their olive harvest. Daniel Snipe, 30, who lives in Cardiff was said to be in the West Bank acting as a "solidarity activist" when friends say he was detained against his will. He was in the area with organisation Faz3a, a Palestinian-led initiative to protect farmers.

Friends and family have lashed out at the "shameful" response of British authorities, stressing that despite contacting the British Consulate in Jerusalem and the Global Response Centre, they remained "totally in the dark" for around 30 hours after the arrest - a silence they found concerning given the upsurge in settler violence in the area in recent weeks. Speaking to LBC, friend and emergency contact, Aled Lewis said: "I immediately tried calling the British consulate [after the news of the arrest] with the phone number that's publicly available.

"I had to phone them 5 times before I got somebody on the phone who was willing to take down the details. Read more: US ramps up embassy security after terror attack in Jordan leaves seven dead after shooters opened fire at funeral Read more: Luxury stores board up windows as France braces for another wave of riots - with 70,000 police officers deployed "Every time we get in contact with them, they say that they're unwilling to give us any updates, and they [were] even unwilling to tell us if they are going to send somebody to check on his welfare.

Aled also criticised Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband for their lack of action - despite "promising to turn over a new leaf when it came to Britain's relationship to Palestine". "But when they get told that a British national is being detained by Israeli forces in a part of the world that they're not supposed to be, and that we're totally in the dark about his welfare, whether he's alive or not, whether he's being tortured or not, they're totally disinterested.

They're unwilling to give anyone updates. "We're being stonewalled. So I think it's shameful, and they need to take a proper look at themselves, and they need to review whatever process is currently in place in the Foreign Office that has allowed this to happen. "This is a moral travesty that British nationals are being treated like this." It's claimed Daniel was arrested at around 3pm local time on October 22 in Al Buweib in Masafer Yatta and taken to a police station in Kiryat-Arba in Hebron.

Contact with Daniel was established in the early hours of October 24 and it is now understood he is in the process of being deported. The situation comes as Israeli settler violence escalates in the illegally occupied West Bank, coinciding with the Palestinian olive harvest, according to Amnesty International. On 16 October, masked Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, setting olive trees on fire and assaulting Palestinians.

US photojournalist Heidi Levine of The Washington Post was also attacked in the incident, despite wearing marked press protective gear, and had her camera equipment and phone stolen. She was hospitalised with multiple injuries. Israeli police have since said they had arrested 10 suspects as part of an investigation. Currently the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to several areas in Palestine.

Commenting on the situation, an FCDO spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British national detained in Al Buwaib and are in touch with Israeli authorities."