Today at 1:00 p.m., the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber coated steel bullets at thousands of peaceful protesters at the Al-Ram checkpoint. 35 people have been injured including two prominent leaders of the Palestinian Women's movement and four UPMRC first aid workers. One man suffered a heart attack from the tear gas.

The march was held by Palestinian civil society organizations to protest the Israeli imposed closures and occupation of Palestinian Territories. The march was attended by thousands of representatives from Palestinian NGOs, doctors, nurses, lawyers, charitable societies, women's groups and peace activists. Arab members of Knesset and Palestinian solidarity groups from inside Israel met up with the protesters from the West Bank at Al-Ram checkpoint.

Once the march reached Al-Ram checkpoint, the Israeli army fired sound bombs and tear gas canisters directly at people's bodies and proceeded to fire ammunition. The Israeli soldiers hit people with the butts of their guns and chased after people, attempting to arrest them. -------------

This peaceful march has been organized by Palestinian civil society organisations. Participants include the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), The General Union of Charitable Societies, The Union of Professionals including doctors, nurses and lawyers, Arab Members of Knesset, Palestinian NGOs & Solidarity Groups from inside Israel, Americans for Justice in Palestine, Internationals in Solidarity with the Palestinians and Peace Activists.

The reason we are demonstrating here today is simple - the situation we are in is intolerable, and we are here protesting the continuing occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. With the Palestinian territories dissected into 64 clusters of prisons, the Palestinian economy is being destroyed, 70% of the population is unable to receive health care, and thousands of students are restricted from attending school and university. Our villages and cities are under siege and closure, as we are being held hostage so 200, 000 settlers can live on our illegally occupied land. Israel is continuing to collectively punish the entire Palestinian civilian population. Over 400 Palestinians have been killed, 14,500 have been injured, and some will never recover.

We are here, holding this peaceful demonstration, to call for an end to the continued Israeli closure of our villages and towns and the collective punishment of our population. We call for the application of International Law, implementation of UN resolutions, and for an end to the continuing 34-year illegal Israeli occupation.

We reiterate that the march for peace can only be achieved by ending occupation.

Health, Development, Information & Policy Institute Ramallah, Palestine

AL-RAM CHECKPOINT, West Bank, March 24 (Reuters) - Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza fired teargas and stun grenades on Saturday at mostly peaceful protests by Palestinians.

Several mostly peaceful rallies against the Israeli occupation were mounted by Palestinian teachers, academics and other intellectuals on Saturday, after recent talk by Palestinian officials of a shift towards softer tactics.

The rallies came shortly after Washington said the two sides could return to the negotiating table before the six-month-old conflict between them has fully ceased, contradicting Israel's insistence that violence must end before any resumption of talks.

And U.N. Security Council members late on Friday made a last-ditch effort to avoid a U.S. veto of proposals to send a U.N. observer force to the West Bank in Gaza before the issue ignites further controversy at an Arab summit next week.

In nearly six months of an uprising characterised by stone-throwing and gunfights against vastly better-armed Israeli forces, Palestinians have suffered hundreds of deaths and have won few concrete gains.

Reuters journalists saw more than 200 protesters, many dressed in suits and ties, march peacefully towards an Israeli military post at a flashpoint road junction at Netzarim in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

"We wanted to prove to the world that our Palestinian people is keen to achieve peace and is committed to non-violence," said Tawfiq Abukhoussa, secretary of the Palestinian journalists' union and an organiser of the rally.

"We were met by teargas and by shots from the Israelis," he added. Most demonstrators dispersed, while a few threw stones and gas canisters back towards the troops.

An army spokeswoman said troops had fired live ammunition into the air and hurled teargas at the demonstrators because they had come within a "dangerous distance" of the post.

The Israeli army frequently takes control of the junction to guard convoys of Jewish settlers passing through, after bomb and machinegun attacks on settlers by Palestinians.

At the Al-Ram army checkpoint near Ramallah, soldiers fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse a few hundred people marching and staging a sit-down protest.

Protesting women in the West Bank village of Halhoul pushed and shoved a cordon of Israeli troops, trying to reach a road serving a nearby Jewish settlement in order to block it, after troops severed the road to the Palestinian women's village.

Israel's blockade policy of Palestinian areas is a major focus of protests. Palestinians say it has crippled their economy and is a collective punishment for the uprising. Israeli forces call it a security measure intended to reduce attacks on Israeli troops and Jewish settlers and inside Israel itself.

At least 348 Palestinians, 66 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have died during the uprising against the Israeli occupation, dating back from the 1967 Middle East war. Many of the dead have been stone-throwing youths hit by army gunfire.

At a pre-summit meeting in Amman of Arab foreign ministers, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told his colleagues that the Palestinian Intifada had flared because of an impasse in peace efforts and miserable living conditions prompted by "aggressive Israeli policies."

Palestinians will ask the summit, which begins in Amman on Tuesday, to fulfil a pledge of $1 billion in support of their uprising, but Arab leaders are unlikely to heed calls for reviving a boycott of Israel or for breaking all ties with the Jewish state.

New Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded a complete halt to violence before he will reenter peace talks with Palestinian leaders -- and says Palestinian leaders bear full blame for the violence.

But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday that clashes did not have to stop completely before negotiations begin, and held out the prospect of a White House invitation for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Four western European members of the U.N. Security Council put forward alternatives to a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an unarmed U.N. military and police observer group to help protect civilians on the West Bank and Gaza. The United States is expected to veto the Palestinian proposal.

Rather than an observer force, the European draft calls on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consult Israelis and Palestinians in search of agreement "on any kind of mechanism to protect civilians."