HEBRON, Two US Christian pacifists said they had been badly beaten by Jewish settlers in this southern West Bank town.

Chris Brown and Kim Lamberty, from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), told AFP they were assaulted by settlers as they were walking Palestinian children to their school in Tuwani, a village just south of Hebron.

"Five masked men with metal chains approached me and Kim when we were walking the children to school," said Brown, talking from a hospital in southern Israel where both he and Lamberty were taken for treatment.

"The children managed to escape. We were hit with chains, rocks and sticks," he said.

"The settlers also kicked us with their boots."

He said border policemen and soldiers had arrived at the scene "twenty or thirty" minutes after the settlers fled.

Israeli police could not be immediately reached for comment.

A statement released by CPT said Brown suffered from "bruises and cuts on his chest and face and is experiencing trouble breathing."

"They kicked and beat Lamberty's legs. She is not able to walk and has significant pain in her left arm and a cut on her chin," the statement also said.

The group said Lamberty and Brown accompanied the children because they "have experience harassment from settlers in the past."

CPT describes itself as an ecumenical initiative to support the reduction of violence worldwide. The group first set up operations in Hebron in 1995 where nine of its members currently work.

Around 1,200 soldiers guard some 600 Jewish settlers living in an enclave in the heart of Hebron, which is home to 120,000 Palestinians and has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the four-year-old intifada.