Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activity, told Ma'an news agency on Wednesday that a group of masked settlers exited a car by a bypass road near Nablus and set fire to the vehicles.

The attackers also sprayed “price tag” graffiti at the scene before fleeing. Price tag attacks are a euphemism for hate crimes against Palestinians by Israeli extremists.

Several signs were also found at a crossroads near Zatara village threatening Palestinians from the villages of Qusra and Jalud.

On Tuesday, residents of Qusra and Jalud apprehended 13 Israeli settlers who had attempted to uproot villagers’ olive trees, holding them for several hours in a house.

The settlers, who were from the illegal outpost of Esh Kodesh, were later transferred to Israeli security forces after the villagers called Palestinian Authority liaison officials.

Israeli settlers have uprooted hundreds of thousands of Palestinian olive trees in the West Bank over the past five decades, resulting in losses of tens of millions of dollars to the local economy, Palestinian officials have said.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and their continuous expansion is a point of tension in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

NTJ/BA