JERUSALEM, Aug 26 (Reuters) - 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.

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

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

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

Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the West Bank in a 1967 war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they intend to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)