World Bulletin / News Desk

Israeli police arrested three settlers on Monday whom they suspect of arson and other attacks on Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank.

At a time of heightened diplomatic tension over claims to the land, the men were found carrying fuel and spikes shortly after a car was torched in a Palestinian village near Hebron.

A police spokesman said they had appeared to be about to conduct a second attack in another village nearby when they were detained.

Television footage of a burnt car in the village of Dahariya also showed a wall nearby daubed with the Hebrew words "price tag" - a slogan used by radical settlers and denoting reprisals for steps taken by Palestinians, or by the Israeli government, which they consider against their interests.

Some attacks have damaged mosques and other buildings.

Police see "a strong possibility they (the suspects) were involved in previous incidents with a nationalistic motive in the past couple of months", spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"They were arrested before entering another Palestinian village, where we suspected they were going to carry out another attack."

The three, all aged in their 20s, have yet to be charged and were remanded in custody for a week.