Palestinians in West Bank protest, strike against Israeli death penalty law

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party had called for the strike, with Palestinian shops and public institutions closing their doors to protest the law.Palestinian shops and public institutions, including universities, across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were closed as people took to the streets to protest against a new Israeli law that imposes the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks.Hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday to march in Ramallah against the law backed by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, chanting slogans condemning the law and calling on the international community to reverse the law’s passage.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Palestine weekly wrap: West Bank attacks surge, Israel restricts Gaza aidlist 2 of 3Land Day: What happened in Palestine on March 30, 1976?list 3 of 3Casualties as Israeli settlers set fire to homes and cars in West Bankend of listAt a protest in the city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, demonstrators carried signs warning that time was running out.“Stop the law to execute prisoners, before it’s too late,” one sign read, showing an animation of a prisoner wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf next to a noose.Most shops in the cities of Hebron, Ramallah, and Nablus were closed with their shutters down at midday, journalists with the AFP news agency reported.Israeli soldiers forced Palestinian shop owners taking part in the strike in the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem’s Old City, to open their businesses.Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party had called for a general strike the previous day.United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned the law, saying “its applications to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory would constitute a war crime”.At the Ramallah protest, Riman, a 53-year-old psychologist from Ramallah, told AFP that “there isn’t a single person standing here who doesn’t have a brother, a husband, a son, or even a neighbour in prison. There is no Palestinian family without a prisoner.”