Ramallah, January 22 (RHC)-- Palestinians have staged several anti-settlement protests in the occupied West Bank, defying a heavy-handed crackdown by Israeli forces.  Israeli forces attacked a protest in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus City, on Friday.

Shehab News Agency quoted local sources as saying that protesters were heading toward the area where a settlement outpost had recently been established in the village when the Israeli troopers fired a barrage of sound bombs and tear gas at them and blocked the road to the outpost.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians suffered breathing difficulties in Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya City, due to inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes with participants in the latest of weekly protests in the village.  A protester was also hit by a rubber bullet fired by the Israeli forces in Kafr Qaddum.

Palestinian sources said clashes also erupted in the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah City, on Friday after Israeli forces violently suppressed a rally by Palestinians.  An unspecified number of Palestinians were also injured by rubber bullets during the clashes.

The rally came as Israeli settlers, under the protection of regime forces, set up a tent in the al-Shorfa Mountain area in the village last month and began construction work for a new settlement.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Emboldened by the anti-Palestine policies of former U.S. president Donald Trump, Israel stepped up its settlement expansion in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounces settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land.