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Seven injured in northern West Bank anti-barrier protest
DEIR EL GHOSSOON, West Bank (AFP) -
Clashes broke out between Israeli soldiers and around 1,000 Palestinians and foreign peace activists protesting in the northern West Bank against the barrier which Israel is building.
Israeli troops fired tear gas grenades and rubber bullets on the demonstrators, wounding seven, the sources said Friday. None of them were badly hurt.
Five of the injured were members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the two others were local Palestinians.
The army intervened when the protestors started cutting the fence and attempted to destroy a gate in the barrier near the village of Deir El Ghossoon, east of the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
The ISM held another demonstration in the northern town of Qalqilya on Thursday, on the same day that the Israeli authorities announced the completion of the first section of the controversial barrier.
The Palestinians and rights groups charge that the fence is an attempt by Israel to annex the West Bank's "bread-basket" and unilaterally determine the borders of a future Palestinian state.
The ISM has been leading an aggressive campaign in recent weeks to protest against the fence as well as roadblocks hampering freedom of movement in the West Bank.
US activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) town of Rafah in March and fellow ISM member Tom Hurndall from the UK was declared clinically dead after being shot in the same area a month later.
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