Israel Disperses Anti-Occupation Protest İn W. Bank Town

Scores of Palestinians on Friday suffered temporary asphyxiation when Israeli army forces fired teargas to disperse anti-occupation protesters in a West Bank town in which a senior Palestinian official died last week.



Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse Palestinians who had gathered in Turmus Ayya town for weekly demonstrations against the Israeli occupation and the Israeli-built separation barrier in the West Bank.



There has been no comment from Israeli authorities.



Last week, Ziad Abu Ein, who had been in charge of the Israeli settlements file for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), died after being exposed to heavy teargas and reportedly assaulted by Israeli soldiers during a protest against the construction of new Jewish settlements in Turmus Ayya.



Palestinian forensics chief Saber al-Aloul attributed Abu Ein's death primarily to internal bleeding of the coronary artery, which, he said, had been a consequence of "severe trauma."



The Israeli army, meanwhile, has since said it would "review" the circumstances of Abu Ein's death.



Palestinians stage weekly protests on Friday against ongoing Israeli settlement building and the separation wall, which snakes across the occupied West Bank, isolating large swathes of Palestinian territory.



The weekly rallies are typically dispersed by force by the Israeli army.



According to the Palestinian government in Ramallah, the separation wall effectively cuts some 50,000 Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem off from the city center.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ramallah