News / Palestine

Israeli forces clash with Palestinian protesters in West Bank

Friday, 13 February 2015 9:15 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 13 February 2015 9:57 PM ]

Israeli soldiers fire teargas during clashes with Palestinians. (file photo)

Israeli forces have attacked Palestinian demonstrators protesting against the ongoing Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories, and injured nearly a dozen protesters.

Media reports say violence erupted after Friday prayers in the West Bank town of Bil’in, west of Ramallah.

Violent clashes were also reported to have broken out in the West Bank villages of Nabi Salih and Kafr Qaddum.

Israeli military forces fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, and reportedly detained several demonstrators.

Witnesses said dozens of Palestinians suffered temporary asphyxiation from teargas during the protest rallies, which were organized by the Popular Resistance Committee.

Thousands of Palestinians stage weekly rallies to denounce the Israeli settlement activities and the separation wall, which has isolated large swathes of Palestinian territory.

The latest demonstration was held as international criticism is growing against Israel's settlement activities. The international community regards all Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian land as illegal.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967.

Israel occupied and then annexed the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in the Six-Day War of 1967, but the move has never been recognized by the international community.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds, and the besieged Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories.

JR/AS/MHB

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk