Ramallah, November 26 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinians observing a “Day of Rage” to protest the recent U.S. policy shift in favor of the Tel Aviv regime’s land theft.

The demonstrations had been called by different Palestinian factions on Tuesday to condemn U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank “is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

The protests were held in several towns and cities across the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, with the participants calling on the international community to take action against Washington and Tel Aviv.  Clashes were reported in several areas, among them the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

“We declared a day of rage to reject this statement by the American secretary of state,” Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef told the Times of Israel. “We totally condemn this American effort to legitimize the settlements.”

Abu Yousef said the Tuesday demonstrations would also denounce Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge last September to apply Israeli “sovereignty” over the vast majority of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, if he is given another term in office.

Mahmoud al-Aloul, the deputy chairman of the Fatah Party, called for stepping up protests against the administration of US President Donald Trump and the Israeli regime, which he said form a “group of gangs perpetrating several crimes against our people.”

The Palestinian factions have prepared a plan for “field action on all levels to confront the occupation in light of unprecedented [Israeli] violations against our people,” he said.

During a meeting last week, the United Nations Security Council members emphasized that the settlements were illegal and undermined the prospect of the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.