Activists charged in protest over Israeli seizure of Palestinian land

Three Palestinian activists were arrested Monday during a protest in an Israeli settlement near Bethlehem, a protest leader said. More than 30 Palestinian and foreign protesters blocked a major road in the settlement of Elazar, causing a significant traffic jam, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. The activists were arrested by Israeli forces that dispersed the crowd. Muhammad Brejiyeh, a spokesman for the campaign against Israeli settlements in the Bethlehem region, said the protest was intended to highlight the settlement was built on illegally seized private land owned by Palestinians. The Israeli organization Peace Now said in a 2007 report a third of the settlement, created in 1975, was built on private Palestinian property. Brejiyeh said protests would continue across the West Bank against Israeli's policy of expanding settlements and confiscating Palestinian property.