In a gruesome crime reminiscent Nazi atrocities during World War II, paramilitary Jewish settlers today abducted a Palestinian farmer from his olive orchard, took him to their nearby settlement, bludgeoned him to death with clubs and axes and then set him on fire.

His charred remains were shown on the Palestinian Television at noon Monday.

Sources in Ramallah said the settlers, armed with Uzi submachine guns, abducted Isam Judeh Mustafa Hamed, 47, in early morning hours Monday while picking olive on his olive orchard at the village of Um Saffa near Ramalla.

They reportedly forced him into an awaiting car at gun point.

At 10 o'clock local time (7:00 am GMT), villagers found his charred and mutilated body dumped at the roadside.

Earlier on Monday, two more Palestinian villagers were murdered by marauding Jewish settlers who have apparently received a green light from the Barak government to carry out the wanton killing.

The Jews today are observing Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

By Khalid Amayreh