TULKAREM:Palestinians in the West Bank on Friday rallied to mark 53 years of Israeli occupation and protest against the Jewish state's plans to annex part of the territory.

In Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, dozens of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israeli settlements and the plans, which could move ahead as soon as next month.

An AFP reporter at the scene said that Israeli troops fired stun grenades and tear gas to repel protesters approaching a military checkpoint.

"This march shows our rejection of any plan of settlement or annexation," said Iyad Jarada, secretary of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party in the city.

"This is our land and we will defend it with all our power and energy."

Near Tubas, also in the northern West Bank, a protester was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet fired by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Further protests were taking place in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Jericho, and the Jordan Valley, which could be annexed as part of the Israeli plan. In the southern West Bank city of Hebron hundreds gathered, chanting against Israel's occupation, as well as anti-American slogans.