HEBRON, October 22, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers Saturday attacked the weekly non-violent protest against settlements and the Apartheid Wall in Beit Ummar, a town north of Hebron, said local activist.

Spokesman of the National Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, Mohammed Awad, said Palestinian, Israeli and international activists headed to Karmi Tzur settlement constructed on Beit Ummar property to protest against settlement activities and construction of the wall.

Israeli soldiers declared the area a closed military zone, prevented the protesters from reaching the settlement gate and battered them before firing tear gas, stun and smoke grenades at the protesters. Many activists suffered from suffocation, added Awad.

There is an Israeli policy to prevent Palestinian farmers from accessing their land near settlements by declaring these lands as closed military area in an attempt to take them over and expand the settlements, Yousef Abu Maria, media spokesperson of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Beit Ummar, told WAFA.

R.Q./M.S.