At least four Palestinians were injured with bullets, while dozens of others suffered tear-gas suffocation as Israeli forces suppressed the weekly Kafr Qaddum march in the northern West Bank district of Qalqiliya on Friday afternoon.Coordinator of the local popular committee of Kafr Qaddum, Murad Ishteiwi, said that the march set off this week commemorating the 14th anniversary of death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
He added that Israeli forces raided Kafr Qaddum, went up rooftops of houses and showered protesters with rubber coated steel bullets and tear-gas canisters.
Ishteiwi pointed out that dozens of protesters suffered tear-gas inhalation, including Minister Walid Assaf, head of the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements.
Clashes erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers, during which Palestinians responded to Israeli bullets with rocks and empty bottles.Residents of Kafr Qaddum began staging weekly protests in 2011 against Israeli land confiscations, as well as the closure of the village’s southern road by Israeli forces. The road, which has been closed for 14 years, is the main route to the nearby city of Nablus, the nearest economic center.The Israeli army blocked off the road after expanding the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim in 2003, forcing village residents to take a bypass road in order to travel to Nablus, which has extended the travel time to Nablus from 15 minutes to 40 minutes, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem
