Dozens of Palestinians choked on tear-gas, Friday, as Israeli soldiers attacked the weekly demonstration, in the village of Kufur Qaddoum, east of Qalqilia, in the northern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
Morad Eshteiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in Kufur Qaddoum, told Palestinian WAFA News Agency that Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel rounds and tear-gas at the protesters, which caused many civilians to suffer the toxic effects of tear-gas inhalation.
All of the suffocation cases were treated by medics on site, no serious injuries were reported.
Demonstrators repeated phrases applauding the meeting of the secretary-generals of the Palestinian factions, led by President Abbas, who called for national unity to work together to obtain the inviolable rights of the Palestinian people.
The Israeli military placed a permanent roadblock on the road that leads east to Nablus city, in 2003 for the exclusive use of illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Since then, Palestinians from Kufur Qaddoum and nearby villages have held demonstrations every Friday with firm determination.
Locals march as a way to demand the army reopen the road, and to express their collective rejection of the annexation wall, as well as the illegal settlements, on Palestinian lands.
Photos: Kufur Qaddoum
