AUTHORITIES were probing a suspected arson attack yesterday in the Palestinian village where three members of the same family were burnt to death by Israeli settler extremists last year.

The fire broke out at about 3am in an upstairs bedroom of Muhammad Fayiq Dawabsheh’s house in Duma, near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Ma’an news agency reported. No-one was injured.

The Palestinian Civil Defence Service said investigations confirmed that a “very highly flammable material” had started the fire, ruling out “all other possible causes.”

Mr Dawabasheh told officers he heard a blast before the fire broke out.

Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, said: “Settlers were the main suspects in the apparent arson attack,” suggesting petrol bombs were used.

According to Mr Daghlas, Mr Dawabsheh told him he “felt unusual movement around his house” before the fire broke out.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said investigations were continuing and detectives suspected “long-term local Palestinian disputes” were behind the attack.

Last July, 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was burnt to death when settler extremists threw petrol bombs through the bedroom window of his home in Duma.

Ali’s mother and father Riham and Saed died in hospital within weeks of the attack.

His brother Ahmad, who was four at the time, survived with 60 per cent burns.

Their neighbour and cousin Ibrahim Dawabsheh, the only witness to the crime, had his home firebombed in March.