Palestinian shops and public institutions were closed across the West Bank on Wednesday in protest of a law the Knesset passed this week mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly terrorist acts.

In the territory’s main Palestinian cities of Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus, most stores were closed with their shutters down at midday.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party had called for a general strike the previous day, when protests took place in the West Bank opposing the law.

In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, entire shopping centers were closed on Wednesday, as well as the city’s main market.

About 150 people gathered to march against the law backed by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“It’s a crazy law to be passed, it’s insane,” said Mohammed Gussein, a 24-year-old student at Al-Quds University, which, like all Palestinian universities, was on strike Wednesday.

“It’s completely out of touch with humanity, and completely racist,” he told AFP.

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........

© The Times of Israel