Protests took place in Silwad & Nabi Saleh.

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Fierce resistance was sparked yesterday by the vicious beating of a 60-year-old former judge Ahmad al-Zir after so called "settlers" attacked him the previous day with an iron bar which fractured his skull and left him unconscious as he was tending his land between Ofra colony and the Palestinian village of Silwad.

"They were hitting him again and again on the head, cursing him and telling him to shut up," said Mahmoud Hussein, a relative and an eyewitness of the alleged attack Reuters reports.

Village youths tracked down the Israelis to their encampment and burned down one of their improvised homes. Israeli forces were sent to the scene late Thursday to disperse the angered Palestinians. They fired at the protesters, wounding two with live bullets, including one in the chest, medics said.