Zohar Savah, the owner of a farm near the town of Mevo'ot Yericho in the Jordan Valley, was pasturing his sheep near his farm when he encountered dozens of Bedouin from a nearby encampment that approached him and threatened him to get him to leave the area.
Upon his return to the farm, he discovered that several sheep were missing.
Savah and the farm staff, along with IDF and Israel Police forces who were called to the scene, began searching for the sheep and found them approximately an hour later hidden in one of the sheepfolds among the Bedouin tents in Auja al-Fauka.
The Bedouin denied that the sheep were stolen, but the farmers immediately identified the sheep and noticed that their ear tags had been cut off to conceal their origins. They presented this evidence to the police, who ordered the sheep returned.
In an attempt to prevent the sheep from being returned, several dozen Bedouin, some masked, began to throw rocks at the security forces. The security forces fired in the air to drive them away, and arrested one of the Bedouin who was identified as a participant in the theft.
The farmers claim that since the beginning of the incident, left-wing extremists with cameras were present and attempted to disrupt the operations. They allege that the theft was planned ahead of time with the activists to produce uncomplimentary photos of Israeli security forces.
Approximately two months ago, while Savah was in reserve service, the Bedouin from another nearby encampment exploited his absence and stole several dozen head of sheep, which were also found a few hours later in one of the encampment's sheepfolds and returned to their owner. In that incident, the Bedouin had cut the ears entirely off the stolen sheep to remove their ear tags.