Some 200 Palestinians gathered on Saturday at a new encampment in a West Bank village, protesting for the second consecutive day Israel's intention to confiscate land.

"We have settled on the lands of the Beit Iksa village to prevent its confiscation by the Israeli army," Osama Zayed, village resident and one of the organizers of the initiative, told AFP.

The Bulgarian foreign ministry has declined to comment on a report that an investigation will link Hizbullah to the July 2012 tourist bombing that killed five Israelis.

On Thursday, Israel's Channel 2 reported that the Bulgarian investigation, which will be released soon, found Hizbullah was behind the bombing in Burgas that killed the five tourists and their Bulgarian driver.

Israeli security forces seriously wounded a Palestinian youth during clashes near Bethlehem on Friday, Palestinian medical officials said.

The 15-year-old was hit in the face by a bullet that bounced off the ground during clashes in Aida, a West Bank refugee camp north of Bethlehem, and was taken to hospital in Beit Jala, medical officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Friday that there would be no dismantlement of any Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins a general election next week.

Asked in an interview with the Maariv newspaper: "Can you promise that during the next four years, no settlement will be dismantled?" Netanyahu answered: "Yes."

President Michel Suleiman kicked off on Friday a tour to inspect the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon units and the Lebanese army troops stationed south of the Litani river.

Suleiman headed aboard a military helicopter to the region amid heavy security deployment.

South Korea plans to deploy Israeli-made precision guided missiles near its tense sea border with North Korea next month, including an island shelled by the North in 2010, a report said Friday.

The South will deploy 50 to 60 Spike anti-tank missiles to two border islands on the Yellow Sea to guard against potential attacks from the North, the Chosun Ilbo daily cited a Seoul military official as saying.

Iran plans to dispatch a small naval fleet to the Mediterranean in line with its intention of boosting its presence in international waters, its navy chief was cited by the media Thursday as saying.

The deployment will mark Iran's third mission since the 1979 Islamic revolution to the Mediterranean. Iranian warships docked at Syrian ports in 2011 and 2012.

An Israeli committee has advanced a controversial plan to build a military college on the Mount of Olives in annexed east Jerusalem, an Israeli non-governmental group said on Thursday.

"The local committee recommended approving the plan," said Aviv Tatarsky of Ir Amim, which supports the "equitable" sharing of Jerusalem.

Only the people of Israel can decide who will represent their best interests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in remarks directed at U.S. President Barack Obama a week before a general election.

"I think everyone knows that the citizens of Israel are the only ones who can decide who will faithfully represent the vital interests of the state," he said.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advanced a "record" number of settlements during its nearly four years in office, a report by the Peace Now watchdog said on Wednesday.

The government's actions "disclose a clear intention to use settlements to systematically undermine and render impossible a realistic, viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," said the Israeli NGO's report.