On a cold, cloudy morning, days after an unprecedented storm wreaked havoc across the West Bank, about 250 Palestinians set up some 20 tents in an area Israeli authorities had earmarked for settlement building. The area — which is part of the E1 corridor Israel is planning to flood with illegal settlements — was quickly dubbed "Bab al-Shams" or "Gateway to the Sun."

The torrential rains and snow which had swept the area earlier did little to prevent many from setting up the nascent village in the stony hillside, complete with white tents, a makeshift village council, clinic and a press room. Many joined in on foot from the nearby village of Za’yyim and from places as far north as Nazareth and as far south as Hebron.

The village’s namesake is a novel written by renowned Lebanese author Elias Khoury about the Palestinian right of return. The group of Palestinians involved in setting up the site, including the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, said their action is a response to the plethora of plans by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to build settlements in and around Jerusalem, most notably in the corridor of land that would link Ma’aleh Adumim to the Holy City.

“For decades, Israel has established facts on the ground as the international community remained silent in response to these violations,” the committee said in a statement. “The time has come now to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground — our own land. This action involving women and men from the north to the south is a form of popular resistance.”