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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Dozens of settlers and Palestinian villagers clashed in Nablus on Saturday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that over 50 settlers from Bracha attacked Palestinian shepherds tending to their animals near the village of Burin.

Israeli forces dispersed the two groups using tear gas, Daghlas added.

Settlers then set fire to five dunams of land belonging to Burin villagers.

Settler violence against Palestinian communities and their property is routine in the occupied West Bank, with settlers enjoying widespread impunity for their crimes.

Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.