Tag: Qedumim settlement

A family’s nightmare: Beaten and kidnapped by illegal settlers near Qadumim as Israeli military facilitates the crime

by Jonas Weber

23 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Samer and his two children

A family of four was kidnapped by settlers on Thursday afternoon while having a picnic close by an outpost near Qadumim. When soldiers arrived at the scene they chased away the relatives of the kidnapped family with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets alongside settlers throwing stones.

It was around 4.30 pm on Thursday that the El Seddi family, who were eating almonds on their families land in the outskirts of Jit, east of Nablus, was kidnapped by a gang of settlers. The settlers approached the family on four wheelers in a group of about ten young men with their shirts wrapped around their heads to conceal their faces.

The family was dragged down the valley by the settlers who were armed with big sticks, and forcing the mother to say to their children that “this land does not belong to us.”

The youngest of the children, only 2 years old, took no notice of this and blatantly told the settlers what he thought of them in response. The father, Samer received many blows during the descent into the valley, and the day after his face was swollen and patched up.

The little three-year old girl also sustained wounds on her legs, and the mother says that she was constantly being pushed around and taunted by the settlers while carrying her children.

After about half an hour Samer’s father Ibrahim and two of his brothers became worried for the family and went to look for them. As they climbed a hilltop adjacent to the settlement they saw how the family was being dragged up the hill towards the settlement.

” They have an old dried out water well by the outpost, we think their plan was to throw the family in there,” said Ibrahim Jamil Khader, who hides a black eye behind a pair of big shades.

When the settlers realized they had been discovered they momentarily released the family who started running towards their relatives on the adjacent hill. Right behind them 25-30 settlers followed. When the family reached the top of the hill adjacent to the settlement, Israeli soldiers had arrived at the scene.

It soon became obvious however that they had not come to apprehend the kidnappers. Instead Samer’s father and brothers had to stall the soldiers and settlers while the family made their way back towards the village.

“As I was talking to the soldiers one of the settlers jumped out  in front of them and punched me in the face. I asked the soldiers why
isn’t he here to care about our lives and he answered that ‘We can’t fight these people, they are dogs.'”

The three men were chased off by the soldiers shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets as well as the settlers who threw stones. There have been problems with the settlers before but something like this has never happened.

“No one was prepared for this, says Ibrahim. The children are mentally exhausted, and we are afraid that they will be traumatized by this.”

The military has a different view on what happened that day.

“The official story is that the family was lost in the hills and that the settlers helped them find their way back. They are so full of lies,” says Ibrahim.

Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Kufr Qaddoum: 5 people injured in demonstration

by Veronica

17 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In advance of last week’s regular demonstration in Kufr Qaddoum the Israeli military attempted to prevent it by turning off the electricity supply to the village from 4AM that morning. But it did not deter about 150 Palestinians from the village from marching up the road towards Qadumim. This week, the lights were on, and again the villagers were out in large numbers to make their peaceful protest, with international and Israeli solidarity activists marching alongside them.

Perseverance and resistance in Kufr Qaddoum - Click here for more images

The main focus of the protest is the opening of the road – a direct route that goes through the Qadumim settlement. Since this road was closed to villagers in 2003, they have had to drive or walk much further around the settlement. As well as taking more time and costing more, this road closure may also have caused fatalities – three people have died in ambulances denied permission to take the direct route to hospital in Nablus. There are other issues affecting the village too, including the theft of land by settlers.

Palestinian flags flew in the cold wind as the demonstration made its way through the village towards the line of Israeli soldiers. It was not long before the teargas started with the soldiers shooting it straight at the crowd at chest height. As people ran, several were injured due to being hit by tear gas canisters or from falls – not knowing whether to face the soldiers and watch for the tear gas being shot at them or to turn and run with their backs to it.

Thus began a running battle, with one side armed with tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and sound bombs and the other merely with their voices and stones from the ground. At one point the soldiers retreated right back to the illegal settlement, and the demonstrators made their way far down the road towards them, burning tyres and flying Palestinian flags. But shouts from lookouts indicated the soldiers were back and there was a sudden rush back into the village as the tear gas started again. This time the Israeli soldiers came right into the village using all the tools at their disposal to disperse the crowd.

At least five people were hit with tear gas canisters or steel coated rubber bullets, including one Israeli solidarity activist.

Afterwards, Murad Shtewi, a member of the organizing committee in Kufr Qaddoum, explained how the whole village is behind this and will not be intimidated by the Israelis.

They have been demonstrating every Friday since July 2011. Since then Israeli forces have raided the village almost every day and night and 11 young men between the ages of 18 and 33 have been arrested – merely for demonstrating.

“But,” he says “we will not stop our demonstrations until we fulfill our goal of opening the road. And we will do more demonstrations if the Israelis try to steal more of our land, as they did last week.”

Veronica is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Permission to enter their own lands: Kufr Qaddoum rampaged again by military

21 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

In the village of Kufr Qaddoum the people held a demonstration for the 17th Friday in a row. The demonstration started around 11:30 AM in the center of the village and consisted of approximately 80 people. The procession only made it to a barbed wire that blocked the road although it stood within the infamous “red line” that outlines Kufr Qaddoum and separates it from the nearby illegal settlement of Qadumim.

With border police and Israeli military present, the protesters were immediately fired at with tear gas. The soldiers directly targeted the protesters from a distance of approximately 50 meters. One young man was hit by a tear gas canister on his thigh by one of the very first shots before the protesters pulled back into the village. They soon returned and were again violently attacked with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets by the Israeli army.

Kufr Qaddoum attacked by Israeli military – Click here for more images

At around 12 PM the army passed their own barbed wire blockade and entered the village in military vehicles. Sound bombs and tear gas was fired in large amounts. Civilians who were not taking part in the demonstration were also affected, including one elderly woman who was seen falling over when running for her life outside the mosque in the middle of the village.

One ISM activist was nearly arrested during the military rampage on Kufr Qaddoum, but managed to escape from the soldier chasing him. Two Palestinian activists were injured and taken inside the mosque for treatment from the Red Crescent, and several people were seriously affected by tear gas inhalation.

 

The demonstration ended just before 1 PM when the army withdrew from the village. The soldiers  later announced in loud speakers that all villagers had to leave their lands and none were allowed to continue the olive harvest during the rest of Friday and Saturday, though the villagers have permission already from Israeli authorities to enter their lands on Friday and Saturday.Four days before the protest Israeli soldiers entered the village during the night and arrested nine people. They are all still being held.The weekly demonstrations in Kufr Qaddoum are arranged by the Popular Committee of Kufr Qaddoum and held in protest against the closure of the main road entering the village. The road was closed in 2003, and the case was taken to the Israeli High Court. After years of waiting the people were allowed access to the road. The court ruled that the villagers could not use the road until 2012 after Israeli claims of the road not being “suitable” or “safe.” The main road leads from Kufr Qaddoum out to the main road to Nablus and passes the nearby illegal settlement of Qadumim, which was established in 1976.

Kufr Qaddoum demands access

by Alistair George

30 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Israeli military forces mounted an aggressive incursion into the centre of Kufr Qaddum today, in response to the weekly demonstration against the closure of the main road linking the village to the nearby city of Nablus, in the North of the West Bank.  The Israeli military fired tear gas canisters directly into streets crowded with villagers and international observers, causing many to suffer from severe gas inhalation.

Murad Shttaiwi, spokesman of the demonstrations, confirmed that this was the furthest that the Israeli military had entered into the village since the weekly protests began on 1 July 2011.  He also claimed that after the protest in Kufr Qaddum on Friday 23 September 2011, fires caused by Israeli military tear gas canisters burned nearly 200 olives trees.

After midday prayers today around 250 villagers, marched to the edge of Kufr Qaddum where they burned an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and called for the road to be re-opened.  In response, the Israeli military deployed military vehicles and fired tear gas to drive the protesters back into the village, whilst Palestinian youths threw stones.

The main road linking Kufr Qaddum to Nablus passes by Qadumim, an illegal Israeli settlement, and was closed by the Israeli military in 2003 during the Second Intifada.  The distance from Kufr Qaddum to Nablus is 13km on the main road; however, villagers are now forced to take an alternative route which is 26km long.  The road remains closed to the emergency services and, according to Murad Shttaiwi, three people have died since 2003 because the ambulances were forced to take seriously ill villagers via the longer route to Nablus.

A recent report published by the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy estimated that restrictions on movement imposed by Israeli forces costs the Palestinian economy $184m a year.

Murad Shttaiwi says that the village has suffered greatly for many years because of the closure of the road.  He is also concerned about the upcoming olive harvest in Kurf Qaddum;

“Last year the military only allowed us to collect olives for one or two days.  On the days that we couldn’t go, the settlers came and stole the olives.”

 

Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Kufr Qaddoum holds funeral for illegal occupation

17 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The people of Kufr Qaddoum demonstrated on Friday, September 16th, against the illegal settlement Qadumim, which is situated west of the village. They demanded access to their main road which passes adjacent to the settlement and leads out from the village.

The demonstration started at 1:30 pm and consisted of around 300 villagers and four internationals from the ISM. The demonstrators carried a coffin covered by the Israeli flag which symbolized the funeral of the Israeli Occupation in spirit of  the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN this month. The coffin was then burned.

Kafr Qaddoum is surrounded by a red line which prevents the villagers from crossing. When this boundary line was reached, just a few hundred meters from the center of the village, the demonstration stopped for speeches, chants and dancing, and the spirit was positive.

Inside the illegal settlement compound one settler family and a few soldiers were seen watching the procession. From outside the settlement boundaries 3 military vehicles were waiting for the protesters to cross the line, which they eventually did. Just a few steps over the line was enough to make all the vehicles drive in full speed against the peaceful protest. Immediately the soldiers started to fire tear gas in high volumes, and the young protesters began throwing stones.

At least four soldiers were also watching from the hill north of the village from where tear gas also was shot.

As the protesters were moving back into the village, the soldiers followed and tear gas was fired into the village. At least one family was affected by the gas inside their home and was seen fleeing. Two people were taken away from the scene by ambulances, and a significant amount of people were helped by doctors from the Red Crescent.

The demonstration ended at 2:30 pm with celebrations inside the village.

This was the 12th week of Friday protests in Kufr Qaddoum, and the first time in three weeks since the army left the settlement to violently obstruct the demonstration.