Israeli army, Palestine youth clash in occupied W. Bank

Clashes broke out Friday between stone-throwing Palestinian youths and Israeli troops in different parts of the occupied West Bank.

Violent confrontations erupted in the town of Kafr Qaddum west of Nablus, and in the towns of Bilein, Nilein and Ras Karkar west of Ramallah, during which Israeli troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse Palestinian demonstrators.

Demonstrators threw stones at army troops and blocked roads with flaming tires.

Murad Ashtawi, a popular resistance activist in Kafr Qaddum, told Anadolu Agency that Israeli troops had raided the town in a bid to preempt a planned anti-settlement demonstration.

Every Friday, Palestinians across the West Bank stage rallies to protest Israel’s longstanding policy of building Jewish settlements on confiscated Palestinian land.

According to Israeli and Palestinian estimates, roughly 650,000 Jewish settlers currently live in settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.