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Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Friday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against the Israeli plan of annexing parts of the West Bank, according to eyewitnesses and Palestinian security sources.
The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, and carried banners reading "Palestinians are sticking to their lands and reject all actions of confiscations," eyewitnesses said.
Clashes broke out between dozens of demonstrators and the Israeli army forces in several West Bank towns and villages, mainly in the village of Kafr Qaddum near the northern West Bank city of Qalqilya, they said.
Medical sources said that at least nine demonstrators were lightly injured by the Israeli army's rubber-coated metal gunshots and dozens suffered suffocation after inhaling tear gas.
Earlier on Friday, Palestinian security sources said the Israeli army forces erected roadblocks in several West Bank areas to prevent demonstrators from demonstrating on confiscated lands.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians joined a demonstration that Islamic Hamas movement organized in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis against the Israeli annexation plan.
In the demonstration, Sallah el-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader, said the conflict with Israel "is not partial and it is not a conflict on the borders, but it is a conflict of existence on our lands."
"The Palestinian people will not let this crime (annexation plan) to pass and the enemy (Israelis) will again open another door for a new conflict," said al-Bardaweel.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it could begin the annexation process from July 1. Plans are to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.
Also on Friday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Reyad al-Maliki hailed the Belgian federal parliament's resolution that called for taking countermeasures against the Israeli annexation plan.
"The resolution of the Belgian parliament against the annexation plan is a clear sign for the possibility of imposing punitive measures against Israel," al-Maliki said in a press statement sent to Xinhua.
Earlier on Friday, the Belgian federal parliament adopted a resolution, urging the government to prepare a list of countermeasures against Israel in case it annexes the occupied Palestinian territories.
The resolution was proposed by the Green party in Belgium, and passed with 101 votes in favor and 39 abstentions.
(CGTN)
