Clashes erupt as Israeli army quells peaceful rally east of Qalqilia

QALQILIA – Clashes Friday erupted as Israeli forces quelled the weekly and peaceful anti-settlement demonstration in the village of Kufr Qadoom to the east of Qalqilia, according to a local activist.

Coordinator of the popular resistance committee in the village of Kufr Qadoom, Murab Shtawi, said that Israeli forces violently suppressed demonstrators, who also rallied to protest Israel’s closure of the main road that connects the village of Kufr Qadoom with the city of Nablus since 2003, spurring clashes between them.

Forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters, and stun grenades at demonstrators, however, no injuries were reported.

“Before 2003, the residents of Kufr Qaddum would use a shorter road to the east in order to come and go to nearby cities and villages. However, as the settlements expanded so that they overwhelmed the road, it became closed for Palestinian use, said Addameer Human rights Association

The only alternative road is roughly six times longer than the previous route, disrupting the villagers’ ability to attend university, their jobs, and other vital aspects of their economic and social wellbeing, noted Addameer.

“Three Palestinian deaths relating to the road’s closure occurred between 2004 and 2005,” it said.

Although Kufr Qaddum’s Popular Resistance Committee took their case to the Israeli High Court in 2003, the legal status of the road remains unchanged, stressed Addameer. After all legal appeals failed, villagers decided to organize weekly demonstrations in July 2011, a step that was met with violent suppression by Israeli forces.

(WAFA)