Ten Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets in clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian youths during a demonstration near Ramallah to protest Israel's closure of the West Bank city.
Soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas on youths as several hundred Palestinians joined the protest on a road between Ramallah and the university town of Bir Zeit to the north which had been blocked by Israel for days.
"Closure does not frighten us," shouted the protestors. "We will continue the uprising until we have our freedom."
Witnesses said youths threw stones at Israeli troops, who responded with rubber bullets, at the reinforced checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, where traffic was completely blocked.
The National and Islamic Forces, a loose coalition of Palestinian factions including Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, had called for marches on Israeli checkpoints today and Friday to protest at the months-old blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"These actions are to continue with the intifadauntil the end of occupation," said a statement from the coalition, adding that Friday's actions would be a "day of rage".
Israel has come under strong international pressure to end the siege of the occupied territories, which has devastated the already fragile economy.
AFP