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Israel clamps down on WB protesters

Israel’s military has begun setting up gates near several villages in the occupied West Bank, buttressing them with barbed wire in an effort to further clamp down on anti-Tel Aviv protests.

The forces started leveling land and unloaded cement blocks on roads leading to the villages close to the central city of Ramallah on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

The move targets protests against the massive separation wall, which Israel began building through the territory in 2002 to keep Palestinians out.

The forces also confronted outraged locals with tear gas canisters and stun grenades.

“Such gates will increase the separation between the Palestinian villages and cities and they target the protests that gather more support,” said Salah al-Khawaja, an organizer of the protests.

A 36-year-old Palestinian woman died Friday after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces that confronted an anti-wall protest in the western village of Bil’in.

The military troops also killed a 24-year-old Palestinian male at a checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, AFP reported. The Israeli forces claimed the victim attacked them, but Palestinian witnesses denied the assertion.

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