<p><br /> Dozens of Palestinians and international activists clashed with Israeli soldiers on Saturday during a protest against Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank.<br /> </p><p><br /> In Iraq-Burin village, located in the northern West Bank, Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli security forces, who shot riot dispersal means toward them.<br /> </p><p><br /> Angering settlers and their supporters, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in November a ten-month moratorium on new housing starts in West Bank settlements - but exempted Jerusalem from the order.<br /> </p><p><br /> Palestinians fear settlements on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war will deny them a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.<br /> </p><p><br /> Israel dismisses international findings that the communities it has been building since the 1980s in the West Bank, on land occupied by the Israeli military since 1967, constitute a violation of international law.<br /> </p><p><br /> It has built more than 100 which are home to 500,000 Jews or nine percent of Israel's Jewish population.<br /> </p><p><br /> The Palestinians, who number some 3 million in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, said all building must stop before they would resume talks with the Israeli government who took office in March 2009.<br /> </p>
