PALESTINIAN Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said yesterday that he had asked world powers to classify Israeli settler groups who attack Palestinian communities and holy sites as terrorist organisations.

Mr Malki said militant settlers known as Hilltop Youth and vigilantes who use the “price tag” slogan, “practise terror … constantly against the Palestinian people, their land, holy places and property.”

“Price tag” refers to the penalty settlers say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the West Bank.

“These groups play a role in killing, incitement to violence and spreading the culture of hatred and racism,” he said in the letter sent to Russia, the US, Canada, the European Union, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic States.

The UN office of the co-ordinator for humanitarian affairs in 2013 reported 399 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian injury or property damage.