QALQILIA, Saturday, September 26, 2020 (WAFA) – Five Palestinian youth were shot and injured today evening with rubber-coated steel bullets as Israeli forces suppressed the weekly and peaceful anti-settlement demonstration in the village of Kufr Qaddoum to the east of Qalqilia, according to a local activist.

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

Forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators, shooting and injuring five youth, four of whom were treated at the scene, whereas the fifth youth was transferred to hospital for medical treatment.

“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.

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.

T.R.