Dozens of Palestinian citizens were wounded on Friday when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) quelled anti-settlement protests in the north of the West Bank.

Murad Shtewi, a popular resistance activist in Nablus, said that scores of Palestinians choked on tear gas when the IOF violently dispersed a peaceful demonstration against settlement construction in Kafr Qaddum village.

Shtewi said that the IOF heavily fired tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets at the Palestinian demonstrators who responded by throwing stones.

The Palestinian activist said that hundreds of Palestinians took part in the demonstration despite the stormy weather and heavy rain.

Every week the Palestinian residents of Kafr Qaddum and other West Bank villages stage protests against the apartheid wall and settlement construction.

About 650,000 Israeli settlers currently live in 164 settlements and 116 outposts built illegally on seized Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

 

Source: The Palestinian Information Center