Israeli troops are seen during clashes with Palestinian protesters at Israeli military's Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah, on May 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Fadi Arouri)
RAMALLAH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians on Monday marched from the West Bank city of Ramallah and clashed with Israeli soldiers at the military checkpoint in Qalandia north of Jerusalem, leading to dozens of Palestinian injuries.
A total of 35 Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber-coated bullets, while dozens others suffocated over tear gas grenades thrown by Israeli forces, medics said.
The demonstrators said the march on Monday aims to protest both the U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem and Palestinians' rights of return to their occupied lands, a day before the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba Day, or "Day of the Catastrophe."
Salah Khawaja, a member of the national committee to commemorate the Nakba Day, slammed the U.S. embassy relocation on the eve of this day.
"This decision hurts the feelings of Palestinians, the Arab, Islamic and Christian nations, but more dangerously, it undermines all international laws and resolutions, representing the continuation of the U.S. arrogance toward Palestine and the region," he said.
Khawaja called on "tangible steps" against the U.S. "unilateral measures."
The Nakba Day is marked on May 15 every year over the forcible transfer of two thirds of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing of at least 418 villages in the 1948 war, the year Israel declared its independency.
According to a statement released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday, the number of Palestinian refugees reached 5.87 million, with 28.4 percent living in 58 refugee camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
The 1948 war resulted in the displacement of 800,000 of the 1.4 million Palestinians who lived in 1,300 villages and towns in historical Palestine, it added.
Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and ordered the relocation of U.S. Embassy to Israel to the disputed holy city.
Describing the U.S. move as a provocation and a flagrant violation of international law, the Palestinian leadership said the U.S. has lost its sole mediator role in the peace process between Palestine and Israel, while calling for an international multilateral peace mechanism.
