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Israeli army uses brute force to quell anti-Wall protests in W. Bank

RAMALLAH, Sept 17 (KUNA) -- Dozens of Palestinians protesting peacefully against the Separation Wall and the Jewish settlement expansions in several parts of the occupied West Bank were injured Friday when the Israeli military forces responded harshly.
Hundreds of Palestinians took to streets in Bal'in town, to the west of the West Bank, after the noon prayers in the weekly protests against what they call "the apartheid wall" with several foreign sympathizers, including Israelis, participating.
They sought to show solidarity with villagers whose land, located on the route of the wall, were confiscated by the Israeli authorities; they also sought to show solidarity with the Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.
The Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters which resulted in the suffocation of dozens of protesters including a foreign female sympathizer.
In Al-Ma'sara village, near the central West Bank city of Bethlehem, several protesters suffered suffocation when the Israeli forces, stationed at the confiscated land, fired tear gas grenade heavily at them in order to block their way to the confiscated land.
In a similar incident in Nilin town dozens of protesters were injured and suffered suffocation as the Israeli forces used force against a demonstration against the judaization of Jerusalem and the burning of copies of Holy Quran by a number of Jewish extremists recently.
Some protesters climbed the Separation Wall and raised the Palestinian flag in defiance of the Israeli authorities. However the Israeli soldiers opened the gate of the wall, ran after them and injured several of them. (end) nq.gb KUNA 171919 Sep 10NNNN