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Scene. Published by Maan News
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QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian child and a youth were injured by Israeli forces as they suppressed the weekly peaceful anti-settlement march, on Friday, in the Kafr Qaddum village in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya.

Coordinator of popular resistance committee in Kafr Qaddum, Murad Ishteiwi, said that Israeli forces raided the village before Friday prayers to suppress the weekly march that sets off following prayers.

Israeli forces went up rooftops of houses, fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas bombs, injuring 13-year-old Khalid Murad Ishteiwi with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the thigh.

Ishteiwi was transferred to the Rafidiya Governmental Hospital for treatment.

A Palestinian youth was also injured in the hand and was treated on the spot.

Ishteiwi added that Israeli forces held Sheikh Abed al-Razzaq Amer, speaker of the Omar Bin al-Khattab Mosque in the town, and his son Usayd; soldiers prevented the sheikh and his son from heading to Friday prayers as they held their vehicles as well.

Israeli soldiers' used Amer's vehicle as cover from rocks thrown by Palestinian youths.

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.

Addameer, a Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, said "Before 2003, the residents of Kafr Qaddum would use a shorter road to the east in order to come and go to nearby cities and villages."

Addameer added "The only alternative road is roughly six times longer than the previous route, disrupting the villagers' ability to attend university, jobs, and other vital aspects of their economic and social well-being."