Israeli forces have again fired tear gas at scores of nonviolent Palestinian and international activists protesting against the confiscation of their land and the construction of the apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday, Israeli forces sprayed foul smelling liquid and fired tear gas canisters at the protesters in the West Bank village of Bilin in the Ramallah district, but there were no reports of any injuries, PressTV reported.
Residents of Bilin and other villages in the occupied West Bank hold weekly demonstrations on Friday after noon prayers. Israeli soldiers always block their march toward the construction site of the apartheid wall, firing tear gas and at times rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters.
The demonstrators held up placards calling on Israel to release Israeli peace activist Jonathan Pollak, who was sentenced to three months in an Israeli jail for participating in a protest march along with the Palestinians in Tel Aviv.
Palestinians and international peace activists say that with the construction of the apartheid wall, the Israelis are forcibly and illegally annexing land owned by Palestinians.
Israel's apartheid wall has annexed around 60 percent of Bilin. Local villagers have held nonviolent anti-wall demonstrations every Friday for more than six years now.
Tel Aviv began constructing the apartheid wall and wire fences in the West Bank in 2000.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling saying that the wall was illegal and should be torn down because it crossed the occupied territory.
Earlier this month, a Palestinian woman, who had lost two members of her family in similar demonstrations, died as a result of being gassed during a protest in the same village. The US-manufactured CS tear-gas canister that caused her death has long been banned, but Israel continues to use it against protesters.