Kafr Qaddum () is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, located 13 kilometers west of Nablus and 17 kilometers east of Qalqilya in the Qalqilya Governorate. Surrounding towns include Jit to the east and Hajjah to the south. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the town had a population of 3,280 inhabitants in 2017.
Kafr Qaddum's total land area consists of nearly 19,000 dunams (about 8,000 under Palestinian civil administration and 11,000 under complete Israeli control).New Israeli military road on lands of Kafr Qaddum village Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem 2007-05-11 Its built-up area consists of 529 dunams. Olive groves make up 80% of the remaining land, 15% is used for vegetation purposes, and 5% are planted crops.Closing of agricultural roads in Kafr Qaddum village Land Research Center 2007-02-07 Israel has expropriated roughly 2,500 dunams (618 acres) for the use of settlements nearby.Amira Hass, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2020-08-29/ty-article/.premium/israels-message-to-troops-placing-explosives-at-village-dont-worry-its-combat/0000017f-e7cd-df2c-a1ff-ffdd549c0000 'Israel’s Message to Troops Placing Explosives at Village: Don’t Worry, It’s Combat,' Haaretz 29 August 2020.
Since 2011, residents have regularly protested the Israeli blockade of their village, and through to 2020, 100 members of the community, including 6 minors, have been shot and wounded by Israeli troops. 170 villagers have been arrested by the IDF and constrained by military courts to pay fines collectively amounting to US$74,200.
Location
Kafr Qaddum is located 17.32 km north-east of Qalqiliya. It is bordered by Jit village to the east, Immatain to the south, Kur and Hajja village to the west, and Beit Lid, Qusin and Deir Sharaf to the north.Kafr Qaddum Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 4, 7
History
Ancient period According to archaeological evidence, Kafr Qaddum has been inhabited since the Early Bronze Age. On the hill south of the village is the archeological site of Khirbet 'Asafeh which was part of one settlement that spread over several hills in the area. In 1979, an archaeological excavation was conducted at the site and remains from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Persian and Hellenistic periods were discovered. Moreover, remains from the Roman period were discovered at the site, including several structures and a kokhim-style tomb.
In the second century, a large Samaritan settlement was built on the site, which existed for centuries. It was mainly stone-built dwellings, according to Roman building tradition. Its inhabitants engaged in agriculture, mainly growing olives for oil. Three ancient olive presses were discovered near the village. A destruction layer found in a number of buildings from the end of the fifth century is probably related to the Samaritan revolts.
The surrounding village lands contain a number of ruins recorded as inhabited by Samaritans in Samaritan sources. According to Samaritan Historian Benyamim Tsedaka, a Samaritan village called Kiriat 'Asfeh existed on village lands, and was home to the Surek and Naakon clans. The Samaritan Tolidah records the original name of 'Asfeh as Qiryat ʿUplata.Marom, Roy. "Continued Pasts: Samaritan Tolidah Extensions and Self-Reflections on History." Texts as Living Objects: Dhayls and Knowledge Transmission in the Islamic World, edited by Sacha Alsancakli and Philip Bockholt, Brill, 2026, pp. 223–49 (p. 232).
The Tolidah records the settlement of Samaritans from 'Asfeh in nearby Beit Bizzīn, including Yūsif b. Barkahuta, born in ʿAsāfah, a son of Muwannis b. Radap b. Rabīʿ. It also mention Rabbi Iṣḥāq b. Khalaf of the Benē Maṭar. The latter moved there from Kafar Qalīl and, after forty years, built a stone enclosure and railings for the village synagogue, where his name was inscribed. According to Palestinian sources, some Samaritan inhabitants later converted to Islam, moved to nearby Kafr Qaddūm, and subsequently spread to other villages.Marom, Roy. "Continued Pasts: Samaritan Tolidah Extensions and Self-Reflections on History." Texts as Living Objects: Dhayls and Knowledge Transmission in the Islamic World, edited by Sacha Alsancakli and Philip Bockholt, Brill, 2026, pp. 223–49 (pp. 232-233).
While not mentioned by name in the Tolidah, Two menorah reliefs were also reportedly found at Kafr Qaddum itself.
The settlement continued to prosper until the early Islamic period, and it seems that its Samaritan residents were forced to convert to Islam, and in part the settlement has survived continuously since.
Ottoman era Kafr Qaddum appeared in 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus. It had a population of 19 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes; a total of 4,700 Akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 133.
During the 17th century, the Ottoman settlement of exiled Transjordanian groups in Jabal Nablus disrupted the local balance of power. The arrival of the Qmeiri clan in Kafr Qaddum led to a prolonged and violent conflict with the native Shteiwi clan. The conflict led to the dispersion of Qaddumi residents in dozens of villages in the surrounding region.Marom, Roy (2026). Settled Land: The Arab Countryside in Israel/Palestine (in Hebrew). Ra'anana: Lamda Scholarship, The Open University of Israel Press. p. 20.
In 1838, Kefr Kaddum was noted as a village located in the District of Jurat 'Amra, south of Nablus.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. 127
In 1852, it was by noted Biblical scholar Edward Robinson on his travels in the region,
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a large population of 198 households in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus and in 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) the village (called Kefr Kaddum) was described as "A good-sized village on low ground, with wells and olives; it has a watch-tower on the side of the chalk hill rising over it on the east, and is supplied by wells; the houses are of stone."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 163
British Mandate period In a 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Kufr Qaddum had a population of 874 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 24 increasing in the 1931 census to 963, again all Muslim, in 234 houses.Mills, 1932, p. 63
In the 1945 statistics the population was 1,240, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 18 with 18,931 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 60 Of this, 2,945 dunams were for plantations or irrigated land, 7,184 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 106 while 69 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 156
Jordanian era In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr Qaddum came under Jordanian rule.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,701 inhabitants.Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26
1967–present
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Qaddum has been under Israeli occupation.
After the 1995 accords, 44.6% of village land was classified as Area B, while the remaining 55.4% was classified as Area C. Up until 2013 Israel had confiscated 2,031 dunums of village land for the Israeli settlements of Kedumim Zefon, Jit (Mitzpe Yishai), and Giv'at HaMerkaziz; presently all part of Kedumim. Kafr Qaddum Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 15
Since 2003, the road between Kafr Qaddum and Nablus is blocked thus elongating the travel distance by 14 km. Since July 2011, weekly demonstrations have been held in a demand to re-open the road.
Land issues In the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood of Kedumim, the there Israeli Civil Administration accused Israelis of stealing private Palestinian land, though it occurred in an "orderly manner" without any official authorization.Ha'aretz 17 March 2008 Court case reveals how settlers illegally grab West Bank lands By Meron Rapoport Zeev Mushinsky, the "land coordinator" at the Kedumim local council, testified as to how it works: Council employees, Mushinsky in this case, would map the "abandoned lands" around the settlements, even if they were outside the council's jurisdiction, with the aim of taking them over. The council would "allocate" the lands to settlers, who would sign an official form stating that they have no ownership claim on them, and that the council is entitled to evict them whenever it sees fit, in return for compensating them solely for their investment in cultivating the land. Kedumim's former security chief, Michael Bar-Neder, testified that the land "allocation" was followed by an effort to expand the settlement. Bar-Neder said that once the settlers seized the lands, an application would be made to the military commander to declare them state-owned, since under the law covering the West Bank, anyone who does not cultivate his land for three years forfeits ownership of it.
Main entrance In 2003, the Israeli military closed the main entrance of the village that connects it to Nablus with a permanent roadblock, in addition, a dirt mound was put one kilometer before the roadblock, isolating one family house which made it unreachable by vehicles. In 2010, after waiting for five years for an Israeli court decision, it was ruled that the roadblock is illegal, but the court also stated that the road is "too dangerous to travel" so the road remained blocked.
The roadblock makes it difficult for people to reach their farmlands because they are prohibited from driving, so they must walk on foot and carry their equipment and harvest. It also delays the fifteen minute journey to Nablus to forty minutes.
Events In 2012, an Israeli soldier was under investigation for the theft of a large sum of money and gold from during a raid against a resident of Kafr Qaddum.IDF soldiers suspected of stealing Palestinian's gold in West Bank raid, Apr. 11, 2012, Haaretz On 2 January 2014, 85-year-old Saeed Jaser Alim became the "first Palestinian casualty of conflict with Israel in 2014; he died following a clash with Israeli soldiers at Kafr Qaddum near Nablus". Villagers say Israeli soldiers fired teargas canisters at them, one of which entered his home, and he subsequently died.Palestinian, 85, dies 'after inhaling Israeli teargas', 2 January 2014, The Guardian In January 2014, a large force of Israeli soldiers entered the village in the middle of the night, seeking "two wanted men", who turned out to be two boys, aged 11 and 13. As they were leaving, they threw stun grenades into the yards of the homes they passed.What Israeli soldiers never tell their mothers, Jan. 16, 2017, Gideon Levy, Haaretz In December 2014, Bashar Saleh was shot in the leg while standing with his camera in a group of journalists. In October 2015 Ahmed Tala’at, a photographer, was shot in the backside while standing with a group of journalists, armed only with his cameras and a gasmask. Muayyed Shteiwi, a nurse, who brandishes a Palestinian flag at demonstrations, was shot near the groin and in the back when, hearing noises of confrontation, he left the yard of a mosque to observe what was happening. In March 2016 an Israeli border policeman shot Khaled Shteiwi/Shatawi (11) in the leg. When an adult villager came to assist him, he too was shot by another soldier.