QALQILYA (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces suppressed a weekly march held in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya on Friday.
Coordinator of the village’s popular resistance Murad Shteiwi said that Israeli forces “attacked” the protesters and fired rubber-coated steel bullets at them. No injuries were reported.
According to Shteiwi, protesters had foiled an Israeli ambush to detain Palestinian youths by throwing rocks at the Israeli soldiers and “forcing them to retreat” without detaining any of the protesters.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an she would look into reports on the protest.
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.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been detained during the demonstrations since their start in 2011, and at least one protester was killed, while 84 have been injured by live fire, including 12 children, Shteiwi told Ma'an during a similar protest last year.
Some 120 others have been detained at demonstrations and were subsequently held in Israeli custody for periods ranging between four and 24 months, Shteiwi said at the time, adding that they had paid fines totaling some 25,000 shekels (approximately $6,488).
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