Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, the weekly nonviolent procession in Kufur Qaddoum town, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, wounding one child with a rubber-coated steel bullet, and causing many Palestinians to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation.
“Today’s procession marked the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when Israel was established in the historic land of Palestine after ethnically cleansing and destroying hundreds of villages and towns,” Morad Eshteiwi, the media coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in Kufur Qaddoum said.
Eshteiwi added that the soldiers resorted to the excessive use of force against the protesters, and fired many rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades at them, while many youngsters hurled stones at the soldiers who attacked their procession.
One child, 15 years of age, was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in his back, and many protesters suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) said hundreds of Palestinians, accompanied by international activists and a delegation from South Korea, in addition to members of the World Council of Churches and Solidarity International Organization, participated in the procession.
The Palestinians hold processions in Kufur Qaddoum every Friday and Saturday, for the eighth consecutive year, demanding the army to reopen the town’s main road, which was blockaded fifteen years ago, to enable easy access for illegal colonialist settlers driving to and from the Kedumim Israeli colony, built on private Palestinian lands.
