Israeli police have arrested two Jewish settlers suspected of beating up a shackled Palestinian in an incident which was filmed and broadcast on the Internet, officials said on Monday.

The incident, which was videotaped by Israeli rights activists and later aired on the YouTube video-sharing website, took place last weekend near the Palestinian village of Al-Samoa in the occupied West Bank.

"Following Saturday's incident police arrested a person from the settlement of Assael and another individual from the same settlement was arrested and questioned over his involvement," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

"They are suspected of involvement in the incident, not necessarily based on the video but based on our investigation," he told AFP.

The film shows a man sitting on the ground with his hands tied to an electricity pole being beaten. Rosenfeld said the incident took place in fields belonging to Al-Samoa where Jewish settlers had built an illegal outpost.

"On Saturday, I went to help relatives work in their fields. There was a fire and at that moment the settlers came and beat us up," said Midhat Abu Karch, 30, the man seen being beaten in the video.

"They tied me up to an electricity pole and continued hitting me," he said. "There were soldiers present when the incident happened. I asked them to help me but they said I should wait for police to come."

Yehoshua Mor Yossef, a spokesman for the settlers in the area, accused the Palestinians of torching Jewish land.

"Such things shouldn't happen but one must know what happened exactly. The Arabs come every Saturday to burn Jewish lands," he said. "When you catch someone he must be handed to police and there is no reason to beat him."

Hardline Israeli settlers regularly scuffle with Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in the arid hills south of the flashpoint town of Hebron.

Last month two Israeli settlers were arrested following a similar incident in the same area when Palestinians filmed a group of four masked men beating an elderly shepherd and his wife with clubs.

The footage was taken by a relative using one of 100 small video cameras which the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem handed out to Palestinians to record proof of attacks.