Ammon News - Ma'an - A group of settlers escorted by Israeli soldiers on Tuesday stopped Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah at a checkpoint near the town of Turmusayya north of Ramallah.

Hamdallah told Ma'an via telephone that settlers and soldiers stopped his car and tried to force his guards and driver to step out.

He highlighted that Israeli soldiers escorted the settlers, who he said had planned an assault against him.

Israeli forces maintain severe restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement in the West Bank through a complex combination of fixed checkpoints, flying checkpoints, roads forbidden to Palestinians but open exclusively to Jewish settlers, and various other physical obstructions.

At any given time there are about 100 permanent Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, while surprise flying checkpoints often number into the hundreds.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.