Palestinians protest against Israel's barrier

NILIN, West Bank,  - Palestinian protesters clashed with troops in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in one of several demonstrations marking four years since the world court called for the demolition of parts of Israel’s separation barrier.

Soldiers fired tear-gas as teenagers hurled stones in running clashes among the terraced olive groves and cactus walls outside the village of Nilin, where residents stage weekly demonstrations against a nearby expansion of the barrier.

About 200 Palestinian and international activists had marched to the construction site, a wide gravel gash running down a hillside, before several young men climbed on to a parked earthmover and broke its windows. Soldiers in several jeeps rushed to the scene and fired tear-gas as the youths took cover among the olive trees and threw rocks at them.