Palestinians clash with Israeli troops in West Bank

Dozens of Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops on Friday in the occupied West Bank village of Ras Karkar, according to eyewitnesses.

Troops used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a Palestinian demonstration held to protest attempts by Jewish settlers to seize local Palestinian land, witnesses told Anadolu Agency.

At least one demonstrator was reportedly injured, while dozens more suffered the effects of excessive teargas.

Since mid-August, Israeli bulldozers have been paving a road through Palestinian land adjacent to the village with a view to building a new settler outpost in the area, Radhi Abu Fakhida, head of Ras Karkar’s local council, told Anadolu Agency.

In a related development Friday, Palestinians blocked a road used by Israeli settlers linking Jerusalem to the city of Jericho to protest a recent Israeli Supreme Court decision to demolish East Jerusalem’s village of Khan al-Ahmar and evict its Bedouin inhabitants.

After Friday prayers, demonstrators set out from Khan al-Ahmar waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Earlier this week, an Israeli court dismissed an appeal against the decision to raze the village, where Israeli bulldozers destroyed several structures -- prompting clashes with locals -- in early July.

There are 46 Bedouin communities -- inhabited by some 3,000 residents -- scattered across Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

Under the 1995 Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- was divided into Areas A, B and C.

Area A falls under the administrative and security control of the PA; Area B falls under the administrative control of the PA and the security control of Israel; and Area C -- in which Khan al-Ahmar is located -- falls under the administrative and security control of Israel.