4 Palestinians injured in West Bank clashes

At least four Palestinians were injured on Friday afternoon in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Ramallah, medical sources and witnesses said. Witnesses said that dozens of Palestinians protested following the Friday prayer outside the Israeli prison of Offer near Ramallah against Israel's refusal to release long-term prisoners from jails. Israeli soldiers stationed at the prison used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters who threw stones at the troops, the witnesses said. Medical sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that at least four Palestinians were shot and moderately wounded during the clashes. Mustafa Barghouti, chairman of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, who joined the demonstration, told reporters that the protest was against the Israeli measures, mainly the refusal to free the prisoners. "I think there is a great link between the Palestinian leadership's decision to join the international agencies and treaties and the Palestinian peaceful and popular protests against Israel," he said. Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which are sponsored by the United States, went into a full stalemate after Israel refused to free the last batch of 26 prisoners arrested before signing Oslo peace accords in 1993