Crowds of people rallied in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, waving flags and holding posters of president Mahmoud Abbas to celebrate the wave of recognition by Western powers of a Palestinian state. High-ranking officials from Abbas's political movement, Fatah, and the Palestinian Authority -- which exerts limited control in the West Bank -- shook hands and smiled. Roula Ghaneb, an academic from Tulkarem, stood impassively in the middle of the Ramallah rally, holding a photo of her 20-year-old son, Yazan. Jamila Abdul, a resident of a village between Jerusalem and Ramallah, said: "Palestine is being exterminated today in Gaza and the West Bank in various ways." Hardline Israeli government ministers have made little secret of their desire to annex the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and where roadblocks are multiplying and Israeli settlements are expanding.