RAMALLAH/GAZA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the Israeli plan of annexing large parts of the West Bank lands.
Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses said that dozens of demonstrators joined a rally in the Jordan Valley area, which is threatened to be annexed by Israel amid an intensive presence of the Israeli army forces.
The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, chanted anti-Israel slogans and carried banners that stressed on sticking to the Palestinian lands and rejecting the Israeli plans of confiscating it.
The sources said that dozens of Palestinians prayed on Friday on the lands that were bulldozed by Israeli army bulldozers in the village of Harres, northwest of the West Bank city of Salfit.
On Friday, several Palestinian factions in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called on the Palestinians to conduct the weekly Friday prayers on the Palestinian lands, which Israel plans to confiscate.
At the end of the prayers, clashes broke out between the demonstrators and the Israeli army forces in several West Bank towns and villages, according to the eyewitnesses, adding that Israeli soldiers dispersed the demonstrators by tear gas.
In Gaza, the Islamic Hamas movement organized a demonstration with hundreds of participants to condemn the Israeli annexation plan. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Mushir el-Masri, a senior Hamas leader, said "the factions of resistance are determined to topple the Israeli annexation plan and all other conspiracies that aim at liquidating the just Palestinian cause." Enditem
