Six Palestinian activists calling themselves "freedom riders" after the campaigners of the American civil rights movement have been arrested while attempting to enter Jerusalem on an Israeli bus carrying settlers through the occupied West Bank.

The activists said they aimed to demonstrate that Israel's occupation of the West Bank had resulted in a community segregated on racial lines, comparable to those of the American south in the 1960s, where African Americans defied segregation by using buses reserved for "whites only".

It is not illegal for Palestinians to travel on Israeli buses in the West Bank, but Israel has prohibited their entry to the Jewish-only communities serviced on the routes without an Israeli permit because of security concerns. Palestinians with West Bank IDs – held by all six protesters – face arrest if they are found in Jerusalem without an Israeli permit to work.

Activist Fedi Qura, 23, said Palestinians were routinely refused entry on these buses because of their race. "Our goal is not just to get on a bus. Our goal is for a complete Israeli disengagement from the West Bank. We want to get rid of the settlements, not just the buses that come with them," he said.

After several buses refused to stop, the six activists succeeded in boarding one amid a scrum of Israeli border police and journalists – and to the astonishment of the bus driver and his settler passengers.

The bus travelled a short distance to Hizma checkpoint into Jerusalem, where frustrated Israeli passengers were allowed to disembark and police boarded the bus to negotiate with the activists.

Huwaida Arraf, 35, challenged one young Israeli passenger who complained about the delay the protest had caused to her journey: "Your soldiers hold us up 10 times longer than this every day at checkpoints across the West Bank."

After a two-hour standoff with Israeli police, all six activists were arrested.

An Israeli security official told Associated Press there were proper channels to get permits, and that the restrictions were imposed due to security concerns.