Palestinian and Israeli security sources said that Fathallah Abu Raideh was shot dead during clashes that erupted between the villagers and Jewish occupiers from the nearby Shilo settlement. Palestinian medical sources said that Abu Raideh was rushed to a Nablus’ hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Israeli medical service ZAKA said that an occupier has been stabbed and was in serious condition.

The Palestinian sources said that the village watchmen were able to grab hold of nine settlers who tried to enter the village.

The Israeli Army said it deployed large forces and military police in the area to quell the clashes. The new round of violence came amid rising tensions ahead of a planned Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.

Jibrin Al-Bakri, the governor of Nablus, said that he ordered the villagers around Nablus to organize unarmed volunteer groups in an effort to protect their villages from occupiers’ attacks.

The Israeli defense establishment has warned that occupiers’ violence in Palestinian territories could lead to an escalation of hostilities.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority warned Israel last week that if the so-called “price tag” occupiers’ attacks continued in the West Bank, it would not be able to control the demonstrators.

The Israeli Army raised its alertness level in the West Bank ahead of next week’s expected Palestinian bid for statehood recognition in the UN. Reserve troops from three regiments were mobilized in the last week alone in a bid to reinforce troops deployed in the West Bank.

The army said that the forces being deployed in the West Bank have been given a large supply of crowd dispersal equipment to contain riots between the occupiers and Palestinians.

The spokesman of Israeli Army said that the army has completed its training of the settlement civilian response units in order to take into account the possibility that mass Palestinian demonstrations would march on West Bank settlements.

The direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel had been stalled since October after Israel refused to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. In response, the Palestinians decided to go to the UN and request an international recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

Israel and the United States oppose the Palestinian bid to obtain an international recognition from the UN and say that the recognition should be made through a negotiated agreement.