Qaddum
At last week’s demonstration a serious incident happened. A youth aged 18 years was shot at short range with a rubber bullet and hit his neck. He fell on the ground and lost consciousness. The soldiers used the situation, picked him up and dragged him, while he was wounded and bleeding, like a sack potatoes into a military vehicle; they refused to let him use an ambulance. In the vehicle they beat him viciously, broke his nose, and wounded him in the eye.
On the spot where he was shot remained a puddle of blood as a mute witness to the seriousness of his wounds.
The soldiers wanted to transfer the wounded youth, who was barely conscious, to prison but the military medic understood that his wounds were serious and ordered to transfer him to a hospital in Israel. In Beilinson Hospital a fracture of the scull was diagnosed and an internal hematoma in the brain. Consent of the parents was sought for an operation, and they were taken there the next day by the representatives of the DCO. The youth’s head was operated upon and he remained hospitalized for two days and then was transferred to Megiddo Prison, notwithstanding his serious condition. His parents are not updated on his condition since his transfer to the prison and are fearful of his fate. We were told that one of the participants of Liora’s visit that took place on shabbat heard this story and was so shocked that she travelled to the hospital to visit him.
A day after the shooting a unit of the IDF came to the village and started to examine the place of the occurrence and to reconstruct the incident, apparently in preparation for a future lawsuit. Next Sunday a consultation is scheduled for extension of his arrest in the court of justice at Salem. The inhabitants of the village think that the army will propose to the family an impossible deal: the youth will be freed from prison in exchange for not submitting a complaint.
We’ll continue to follow up.
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In today’s demonstration some two hundred demonstrators took part, amongst them ‘’internationals’’ from the US and Europe and ‘anarchists’. Like in previous weeks the soldiers took up positions within the village since the morning hours, and even before prayers were completed they shot in the direction of the youngsters. No gas was used because of the direction of the wind but use was made of stun grenades and sharpshooters. One demonstrator was hit in the eye and had to be taken to hospital, and a five year old child was superficially hit by a rubber bullet, and within a short while he recovered. At the start of the demonstration one of the Israeli’s approached the soldiers, very courageously, it must be noted, and shouted in their direction that they should leave the village area and regroup in the area that separates Kadum B and the settlement and thus spare us another round of aggression. Luckily he was not shot at. After a few minutes they retreated and disappeared, until the procession of the demonstrators started.
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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