PA chief Mahmoud Abbas"s security apparatuses in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday handed IOF troops three armed Israeli settlers who entered the city and were apparently planning an attack near the Church of Nativity.

The website of Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth said that the three settlers, including a woman, were caught with arms in their possession in the Nativity plaza where Christmas and New Year celebrations are underway.

It said that Abbas"s policemen contacted the so-called civil administration department, affiliated with the IOF, to take delivery of the three.

The paper said that one of them was a soldier, who was armed with an M-16 rifle, and added that he was taken for interrogation by the Israeli military police.

Two days ago the same Palestinian police force delivered eight kilograms of explosives to the IOF troops, claiming they were found in Bethlehem and are believed to be used by Palestinian resistance factions.

IOF sappers blasted the explosives, the Hebrew radio reported, adding that delivering the explosives was meant to boost confidence building measures between the two parties.