Atif Hanini, the head of Beit Fourik Municipal Council, said that occupiers from nearby settlement of Itamar set fire to hundreds of dunams planted with olive trees near the Khirbet Tana area.

Hanini added that the Palestinian civil defense workers failed to reach the area to put off the huge fire. The official said that local residents are still trying to put off the fire out of fear that it may spread to surrounding areas due to the heat wave affecting the area.

In recent months Jewish occupiers have increased their acts of harassment against Palestinians in the West Bank as a "price tag" for the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on last November that a 10-month partial moratorium on new housing starts in the West Bank settlements. Netanyahu said the move was in a bid to revive the peace talks with the Palestinians.

Since then, Israel has been urging the Palestinians to make reciprocal steps. While the Palestinian side have refused to engage in peace talks until Israel freezes all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.

Meanwhile, the commander of Israeli forces in West Bank Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon has warned the occupiers to be on alert for possible abduction attempts across the Palestinian territories.

Alon said in a letter he sent to the heads of Jewish settlements' councils in Palestinian territories that the warning is based on intelligence and interrogations of Palestinians arrested on involvement in plotting such kidnappings.

"The threat of kidnapping is significant," Alon wrote the settlements leaders. "We must especially remind youths to take safety precautions when hitchhiking." 

According to Alon, the Israeli intelligence has shown Hamas leaders in Damascus are pressuring members of its armed group in the West Bank to abduct occupiers and Israeli citizens touring the area.

The Israeli defense establishment believes such a kidnapping would be used by Hamas as a bargaining chip for short-term gains and not for major negotiations such as in the case of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity for four years and for whom Hamas wants hundreds of Palestinian and Arab prisoners.

The heads of settlements held information session with young occupiers to reiterate to hitchhike only within their settlements and not on main routes in the West Bank or late at night.