Palestinians torch half a dozen vehicles in East Jerusalem

Palestinians torched half a dozen vehicles in East Jerusalem and threw stones and firebombs at Israeli police after Jewish settlers approached a mosque

Palestinians torched half a dozen vehicles in East Jerusalem on Thursday and threw stones and firebombs at Israeli police after Jewish settlers approached a mosque, local residents and police said.

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There were no reported injuries in the incident in the volatile Silwan neighbourhood, where tensions have often flared between Palestinians and a small group of settlers who have moved in over the past two decades.

Local residents said settlers tried to reach a spring, which religious Jews view as a biblical site, by passing through a mosques courtyard.

Israeli police said the Palestinians then took to the streets in violent demonstrations, throwing rocks and firebombs at police and vehicles, ending up burning six cars.

Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the West Bank in the 1967 war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim which is not recognised internationally. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they intend to establish in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip