Israel uses teargas to disperse W. Bank Palestinians

Israeli troops used teargas to disperse dozens of Palestinian villagers, including several schoolchildren, near the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, according to a local official.

Yahia Kadous, head of Burin village's municipal council, told Anadolu Agency that an Israeli force had entered the village with a view to informing the council of an Israeli decision to confiscate a parcel of land owned by a local secondary school.

According to Kadous, however, council members refused to meet with Israeli army personnel or receive any notifications.

"Afterwards, soldiers started firing teargas canisters at the school, terrifying students," he said, adding that the army sought to confiscate Palestinian land in the village on the pretext of "maintaining security".

In recent years, Kadous asserted, the Israeli authorities had seized roughly 1,000 square meters of the school's property and now sought to confiscate more.

Surrounded by three Jewish-only settlements, Burin is the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian residents on one hand and Israeli troops and Jewish settlers -- who occasionally attack the school and Palestinian homes in the village -- on the other.