Corona Times Report: Qaddum - The army is imposing harsher measures now
A telephone conversation with S. from Qaddum
First of all, I inquired about the pandemic: there are no Corona-virus-infected people in the village. Two who returned from work in Israel have been quarantined. I asked whether the weekly protest demonstrations were continuing, and was answered in the affirmative. Furthermore, the Israeli army approached the village mosque and fired rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas grenades as well as live bullets.
Two weeks ago the army arrested two children, ages 14 and 17. The 14-year old was released, the other sentenced to 3 months’ prison term.
The army is imposing harsher measures now.
Since the villagers have not had a chance to plow their olive groves, the weeds there now have grown especially high thanks to the very rainy season they’ve had. They have been issued permits to spray the weeds with herbicides for 3 days. Today was such a day.
S. said he is in contact with Raia and others from Machsomwatch.
Qaddum
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Qaddum
The village of Qaddum dates back approximately 4,000 years. Today’s villagers mostly work in agriculture and cultivae olive groves. The hilly landscape is covered with olive trees and are dotted with patches of green fields.
Qaddum was attached to the district of Nablus until 1994 at which time it joined the Qalqiliya district. The village is home to 4,000 inhabitants (2013), with 22,000 dunams (5,400 acres) of which 11,000 dunam (2700 acres) are in Area C*. Access to Area C requires coordination with the Israeli army, which means that access is almost non-existent.
The settlement of Kedumim was founded in 1975 on lands belonging to the ancient the village of Qaddum. Since then, Kedumim has expanded to include 5 settlements. The Kedumim settlements separate Qaddum village from its lands and from access to the main road. The road connecting Qaddum village to Route 55 was closed to its residents in 2003. The short ride (1.5 km or less than a mile) between Qaddum and a neighboring village - Jit, turned into a 12 km (7.5 miles) bumpy ride on an unpaved gravely road. Since 2004, residents of the village of Qaddum have been submitting requests to the authorities to reopen the old road leading to Route 55.
On July 2011, the villagers began holding weekly demonstrations in protest of the road closure and of the theft of their lands. They march to the edge of the village and there they stop. There is a regular routine to the demonstration which always follows with a confrontation with the army when it enters the village at the end of the blocked road. The army reacts to the demonstrations with sharp weapons, rubber bullets, tear gas and lately also live ammunition. Villagers are injured and hurt each week and often, dozens are arrested by the army. Young people and children are intimidated by the army when they photos are posted in the village streets.
On 12/7/19 a 10 year old boy was criticaaly wounded after he was shot in the head by live ammunition while standing at the entrance to his home in Qaddum during a demonstration.*Area C is an administrative division of the West Bank established by the Oslo II Accords in 1995. The Palestinian Authority is responsible for medical and education services and Israel is responsible for infrastructure and administration.
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