West Bank Cars Torched in Possible Settler Attack

Unidentified assailants torched three cars in the West Bank village of Beitin, north of Ramallah, early Monday, police said, in a possible revenge attack by extremist Jews.

"Police are searching for the suspects -- it's not clear exactly who was behind it -- and the investigation continues," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

Rosenfeld said that in contrast to recent similar attacks, "in this incident there was no writing or graffiti in the area," but police were "obviously" investigating the possibility of it being a "price tag" attack.

He was referring to acts of revenge carried out by extremist Jews in response to government action against wildcat settlement outposts, aimed generally at Palestinian property, although some have been directed at Israeli troops or left-wingers.

On Thursday, arsonists torched a West Bank mosque as Israeli troops demolished part of an outpost in the northern West Bank.

Hebrew-language graffiti at the scene linked the attack to state plans to dismantle outposts.

On Wednesday, vandals tried to burn down an abandoned mosque in central Jerusalem and daubed it with racist anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered tougher measures against Jewish "rioters" after a surge in settler violence, in particular an attack on an Israeli military base in the West Bank.