By Marshall Pinkerton and Alma Reventos
| International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday, August 17, five were injured and eight arrested at Kafr Qaddum. Soldiers fired tear-gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets, and beat protesters with wooden sticks. This week was a first, as the village was surounded and invaded by over 100 Israeli occupation forces leading to several broken arms, the arrests of participants, including six journalists, and the asphyxiation of a 60 year-old bystander.
Journalist beaten and arrested by Israeli soldier
Those arriving from outside Kafr Qaddum were forced to travel around flying checkpoints, posted along the main roads used to reach the village. “Something felt strange about this morning,” Morad Shtayi, Popular Struggle Coordination Committee representative for Kafr Qaddum said. Before the demonstration at 11:30, Shtayi and several other men heard that 14 soldiers have entered houses under construction from the East, where the protest takes place. “We began shouting at the soldiers until they left.”
The demonstration began per usual at 1:15 P.M., with protesters marching down the road leading to Nablus. Only a single bulldozer was present on the road, with over 30 border police, police, and soldiers standing on the hill to the North. After 15 minutes the IOF descended on the village from the North, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Soldiers also began climbing up the valley from the South as well, followed by several jeeps and the bulldozer from the East. “Protesters fled into the village to seek safety, as they faced tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets shot from distances of less than 10 meters,” solidarity activist Alma Reventos recounts. Shtayi said witnesses reported seeing soldiers firing live ammunition in the air as they entered the village in search of protesters.
The bulldozer pushed into the village, causing protestors to run head over heels.
Two Palestinian demonstrators were arrested hiding from the border police, Qassam Aahi, 17 years old, and Abdallah Awni. The IOF also arrested six Palestinian journalists for reporting on the demonstration; Jaafar Shtayi (Associated Free Press), Nidal Shtayi (Chinese Press), Faris Faris (Palestine Today), Bakir Abd al-Haq (TV Nablus), Odai Qudoomi (B’tselem), and Noah Qudoomi (Alfajir Tulkarem). Among the six journalists arrested, two were beaten, with Jaafar Shtayi suffering a broken arm. The journalists were released several hours later under the condition that they face imprisonment if they attempt to document the demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum again. In addition to the arrests, two Palestinians were beaten and a 60-year-old woman fell onconscious after border police repeatedly fired tear gas inside the village. Rani Suliman Ali, 30, had his arm broken and was kept for a period from seeking medical treatment by flying checkpoints outside of the village. Mohannad Shtaiw, was beaten on the back with wooden sticks, and taken to Qalqiliya hospital. The soldiers finally left the village at 3:30 with those arrested.
The purpose of the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qaddum focuses on the closure of the main road that connects the village with Nablus. The road, which passes alongside the nearby illegal settlement of Kedumim, was closed to Palestinian access. As a result, the journey to Nablus has increased from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. This has resulted in hardships because many residents travel daily to Nablus for work, studies, or health care. Kafr Qaddum has also lost 4000 dunums of land to the 5 illegal Israeli settlements that surround the village. With farmers seeking to reach their lands being threatened, attack, and arrested. Some of the lands have been declared closed military zones, and settlers regularly burn them. This demonstration follows two weeks in which several young men were arrested from Kafr Qaddum in night raids by the IOF.
Marshall Pinkerton and Alma Reventos are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed)
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