Palestinians from villages in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem pitched tents on Friday, January 11 on land Israel has earmarked for a new urban settlement, looking to preserve the area for an independent Palestinian state, Reuters reported.

Scores of Palestinians erected about 20 large, steel-framed tents on a windswept hillside in an area known as E1, a geographically sensitive area where Israel announced last month it would build homes for hundreds of settlers.

The tents were erected in an area close to established Palestinian villages that lie on slopes north-east of Jerusalem and overlook the descent to the Dead Sea.

Although there was no immediate response from the Israeli authorities, police and soldiers in the past have moved quickly to shut down any such spontaneous Palestinian camps

International powers view all settlement building in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War as detrimental to securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come in for heavy criticism for a wave of recent announced settlement building in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

However, his pledge last November to build on E1 caused an especial outcry, with European diplomats warning that it could kill off any hope of creating a contiguous Palestinian state.