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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Villagers south of Nablus reported seeing dozens of settlers Monday evening, and watched as they set fire to plots of agricultural lands near Madama, an official said.

Settlement monitoring official with Fatah, Ghassan Doughlus, told Ma'an that Madama residents believed the settlers were from the nearby illegal residential community of Yitzhar, a known violent settlement.

Village official Ihab Al-Qett said Palestinian fire crews were able to access the area and put out fires before significant damage was done.

The vandalism comes hours after a conflict between Israeli forces and settlers in the Nablus area, during a settler visit to an area believed by some Jewish groups to be Joseph's Tomb.

During the visit, around 50 settlers barricaded themselves inside the West Bank city, and an army spokesman said confrontations erupted between the settlers and Israeli soldiers trying to evacuate them.

On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli military investigation chastised Palestinian police who had fired on a group of settlers in April, after they illegally entered the Nablus area to visit the tomb.

The fire was said to have caused the death of one settler, who was taken in private cars from the site of the incident to a medical center in a nearby settlement.

The Israeli military found the police fire at the settler group on 24 April "unwarranted," and said the officers had