Palestinian protests against the Israeli measures in Jerusalem continued on Wednesday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to halt its measures and settlement construction in Jerusalem.

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 17, 2010. Clashes erupted to protest against Israeli consecrating a synagogue in the old city of Jerusalem. [Fadi Arouri/Xinhua]

Witnesses said fierce clashes between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli soldiers continued on Wednesday over Israel's opening of a rebuilt Hurva synagogue, located several hundred meters far from al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The clashes erupted on Wednesday in East Jerusalem as well as in the suburbs of the West Bank cities of Nablus, Beit Sahour and Hebron. The Israeli army dispersed the Palestinian protestors by force.

During Tuesday's clashes, some 100 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were injured, said the witnesses.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Radio quoted senior Israeli army officials as saying that they expect the wave of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to decline, expecting that "the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank are not interested in keeping the wave of violence flaming."

In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Wednesday near the borders between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel against the ongoing Israeli blockade imposed on the coastal strip and the latest Israeli measures in Jerusalem, mainly reopening the synagogue and expanding settlements.

Gaza organizers of the protest said that the demonstration was arranged also to protest against the Israeli security measures in the Gaza Strip, mainly enlarging the no-go zone area on the borders between the blockaded enclave and Israel.

Witnesses said that crowds gathered near the Nahal Ozz crossing east of Gaza city, adding that Israeli soldiers opened intensive warning fire at the demonstrators who tried to approach the border area.

The Palestinian left-wing parties in Gaza had earlier called for a demonstration near the borders to protest against the security no-go zone, the ongoing blockade and the latest Israeli measures in East Jerusalem.