Qusra, West Bank: Palestinian villagers on Tuesday briefly detained and beat up a group of Israeli settlers, accusing them of having thrown rocks at farmers tending their fields in the occupied West Bank.

The incident – the details of which were disputed by a representative of a nearby settlement – stoked tensions long simmering on land where Palestinians seek statehood under struggling US-sponsored peace negotiations with Israel.

Confrontation: The Israelis fled to a house under construction near Qusra, where they were beaten. Credit:AP

Yet with several alleged settler assailants in Israeli police custody after they were extricated from Qusra village by the army, and no immediate repercussions for the Palestinians involved, the incident may signal a new toughness by the Jewish state in tackling violent ultra-nationalists.

The seized Israelis, who appeared to be aged between 15 and 30, were held in an uninhabited house near Qusra after Palestinians said settlers had rampaged on local farmland.