Israeli troops, Palestinians clash near wall
Israeli forces have fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians protesting against the West Bank barrier.
At least 26 Palestinians and an Israeli peace activist were hurt in Kharbatha al-Misbah village on Sunday in the latest in a series of violent protests in the West Bank against a project that Israel says “stops suicide bombers” and Palestinians call a “land grab”.
The Israeli was hit by a rubber bullet, witnesses said. Huge mechanical excavators levelled land at the village, near the Palestinian city of Ram Allah, as local farmers, school children and their supporters protested against construction of a new section of razor wire-tipped fence.
The bulwark of fences and walls built so far in the West Bank runs 180 km and is to stretch over 700 km.
Palestinians say the barrier, by snaking well into the West Bank and taking in Jewish settlements, is intended to annex territory that Israel occupied in a 1967 war but which they want for a viable state under a US-backed peace plan.
The barrier, whose legality is under international law scrutiny, has cut off tens of thousands of Palestinians from urban markets, services, neighbouring villages and farmland.