RAMALLAH, January 8, 2014 (WAFA) – The Palestinian government Wednesday described the events in the Nablus area village of Qusra between Israeli settlers and Palestinian villagers as self defense, according to government spokesman Ihab Bseiso.

Palestinians fended off an attack by hard-line Israeli settlers on their villages south of Nablus on Tuesday and at one point they were able to detain and beat some of the settlers.

Bseiso denounced in a statement the assaults settlers, particularly the Price Tag terror group, wage against Palestinian civilians and called upon the international community to protect the Palestinians.

He said residents of Qusra were in a state of self defense to safeguard their village, which has been under repeated attacks by Jewish settlers over the past months.

He said the villagers provided the detained settlers with water and cleaned their blood, but also warned them against continuing with their aggression against the villages.

Settlers regularly attack the Nablus area villages, burn their crops and homes, and write warning graffiti on walls.

M.N./M.S.