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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers uprooted some 20 olive trees in southern Jerusalem, police said Thursday.

Luba al-Samri, police representative for Arabic media, said the settlers uprooted 20 trees in the Beit Safafa area of Jerusalem.

Al-Samri told Ma’an the settlers left a banner with "price tag" written on it.

Israeli police are investigating the incident, al-Samri added.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP the incident took place "in the courtyard of an Arab house" on the outskirts of Beit Safafa, and the investigation had yet to apprehend any suspects.

Israel's Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat strongly condemned Thursday's incident, and said that "no tolerance should be shown to violence of any nature. We will continue to maintain coexistence in the city," public radio reported.

"Price tag" is the slogan used by extremist Jews in attacks against Palestinians in revenge for policies they say harm their interests.

Usually such attacks are by Jewish settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, but in October a mosque in northern Israel was torched and graves in a Muslim and Christian cemetery in Jaffa were defaced, both bearing "price tag" slogans.

AFP contributed to this report