Kadoumim Colonists Actively Construct a New Outpost

The village is located 23 kilometers away from the city of Qalqilia. Its total area is 17,161 dunums of which 456 dunums are its built-up area. According to the PCBS, the population of the village is about 2908. Three colonies are built atop the village’s land; Kadumim Etzion, Giva’at HaRkaziz in addition to Kadoumim Jit.  See Map 1

 

 

A group of Kadoumim colonists, under the protection of Israeli occupation soldiers, set up a new colonial outpost in an area known as Al Kharma southwest of the village. The new outpost is located 400 meters west of the colony of Kadoumim and it’s been named as Mantsi Gil’ad. It consists of a mobile caravan in addition to a fence surrounding the lands in its immediate vicinity. The threatened lands are owned by Mr. Mohammad Ghaleb Adnan Eid from the village of Kufr Qaddoum.

 

 

 

It is worth pointing out that the owners of lands in Al Kharma are prevented from accessing their lands except during the olive harvest season and only for a limited period of time. In the past few years a large number of attacks by the colonists were reported in the area especially during the olive harvest season. Such attacks took the form of destroying olive trees, stealing olives, physically attacking farmers during the picking process in addition to confiscating lands in the said area. During the 2008 olive harvest season Israeli colonists, again under the protection of Israeli occupation soldiers, placed fences around tens of dunums in the area after they have managed to throw Palestinians farmers out of it. That was despite the intervention of international and human rights organizations to remove the colonists from the besieged lands. However, the Israeli occupation forces kept on stalling in evicting the colonists which made them increase their attacks leading to a large number of physical injuries (broken arms and bruises) in addition to preventing Palestinian farmers from using their lands during the olive harvest season.     

 

The 51-year old Mr. Mohannad Salama Eid from the village expressed the following to Land Research Center (LRC)’s field researcher: ‘ I own a 3.5 dunum piece of land in Parcel 4 in Al Kharma area. I was prevented from reaching it by the Israeli occupation forces due to its close proximity to the colony of Kadoumim. I was allowed entry only during the olive harvest season and only after getting the “right” permits from the occupation army. In 2008, the colonists destroyed my land as they have opened a sewage pipe from the colony unto it. They have destroyed my crops because of that. Also, colonists broke a large number of olive branches and threw trash in my agricultural lands. When I went to the so-called Israeli DCL, the officers there made fun of me and placed a number of impossible conditions (especially regarding the land ownership) to process my complaint. So, the situation continues as is and my suffering is expected only to increase. ‘  

 

He added: ‘ My case is not unique. The repeated and frequent occurrence of such attacks made the farmers here feel helpless. The State of the Occupation considers itself a state where the law prevails. Yet, it aims at stealing the lands and evicting it from its original owners as to give it as a gift to those who come from allover the world to occupy our lands. ‘

 

On another front, Israeli occupation forces are continuing their campaign to enlarge the colony of Kadoumim; a new road is being established around the colony while a new basic infrastructure is being constructed. One the other hand, Palestinian villages located nearby do not have the minimum infrastructure while movement restrictions choke Palestinian travel in an effort to encourage colonists to come and live in the said colony.

 

Kadoumim Colony:

The colony of Kadoumim was built in 1975 atop the ruins of an old Jordanian military base west and south of the village of Kufr Qadoum. Its built-up area is 1005 dunums in which 2,934 colonists live. It was established atop lands belonging to the village of Kufr Qadoum. Two outposts are associated with the colony; Kadoumim Jit which confiscated 248 dunums of the villages’ lands while the second outpost is Kadumim Etzion which devoured 322 dunums of Kufr Qaddoum         

[1] GIS Unit at the LRC.

[2] Source: Kufr Qadoum Village Council

[3] GIS Unit at LRC.