Nablus (QNN) - Israeli settlers took advantage of the hot weather yesterday and set fire to fields in Palestinian villages in the north of the occupied West Bank. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told reporters that settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar set fire to fields in the village of Burin, south of Nablus. He said when local Palestinian residents attempted to thwart the settlers' attack, Israeli soldiers shot rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas at the them. In nearby Qusra village, settlers from the illegal Yesh Kodesh settlement outpost set fire to fields planted with wheat, burning a large tract of land, said Daghlas. Residents also confronted the settlers and forced them out of the fields as they attempted to put off the fire. Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their belongings is commonplace in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and often goes unpunished.