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| Israel 'suspends' plans to segregate Israeli and Palestinian bus travellers in the West Bank | Israel 'suspends' plans to segregate Israeli and Palestinian bus travellers in the West Bank |
| (7 months later) | |
| Israel has suspended a pilot programme at the last moment that would have segregated Israeli and Palestinian bus travellers in the West Bank. | Israel has suspended a pilot programme at the last moment that would have segregated Israeli and Palestinian bus travellers in the West Bank. |
| The programme was intended to prevent Palestinians from riding common buses with Israelis in the West Bank and limit their exit to the same checkpoint through which they entered Israel, according to local newspaper Haaretz. | The programme was intended to prevent Palestinians from riding common buses with Israelis in the West Bank and limit their exit to the same checkpoint through which they entered Israel, according to local newspaper Haaretz. |
| The three-month pilot, under a directive from Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, was estimated to potentionally add as much as two hours to some Palestinians’ commute as their travel options are constricted through Rayhan, Hala, Eliyahu and Eyal checkpoints. | The three-month pilot, under a directive from Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, was estimated to potentionally add as much as two hours to some Palestinians’ commute as their travel options are constricted through Rayhan, Hala, Eliyahu and Eyal checkpoints. |
| A spokesperson for NGO Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to Palestinians, called the pilot “a shameful and racist measure that causes Israel to deteriorate to a low moral point.” | A spokesperson for NGO Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group providing legal assistance to Palestinians, called the pilot “a shameful and racist measure that causes Israel to deteriorate to a low moral point.” |
| Incredible. Netanyahu instructs DM Yaalon to suspend bus separation directive while Yaalon's deputy's defending it in Knesset HT @idobenbaji | Incredible. Netanyahu instructs DM Yaalon to suspend bus separation directive while Yaalon's deputy's defending it in Knesset HT @idobenbaji |
| Seeing some reports indicating the bus segregation plan in the West Bank that was just launched has now been halted. #Israel | Seeing some reports indicating the bus segregation plan in the West Bank that was just launched has now been halted. #Israel |
| The pilot, announced yesterday but suspended just hours later today, comes following a campaign by right-wing organisation the Samaria Settler Committee and centre-right politician Oren Hazan for segregated travel in the West Bank. | The pilot, announced yesterday but suspended just hours later today, comes following a campaign by right-wing organisation the Samaria Settler Committee and centre-right politician Oren Hazan for segregated travel in the West Bank. |
| Deborah Hyams, an Amnesty International researcher who focusses on the region, said: “People hearing the news that this directive has been suspended could get the mistaken impression that Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been lifted. Nothing could be further from the truth. | Deborah Hyams, an Amnesty International researcher who focusses on the region, said: “People hearing the news that this directive has been suspended could get the mistaken impression that Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been lifted. Nothing could be further from the truth. |
| “The Israeli authorities must end all arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - and in the Gaza Strip," she told The Independent. | “The Israeli authorities must end all arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - and in the Gaza Strip," she told The Independent. |
| Last October Defence Minister Mr Ya’alon appeared to accept the campaign’s claims that mixed transport was a security risk and banned Palestinian workers from travelling on Israeli-run public transport in the West Bank. | Last October Defence Minister Mr Ya’alon appeared to accept the campaign’s claims that mixed transport was a security risk and banned Palestinian workers from travelling on Israeli-run public transport in the West Bank. |
| "You don't need to be a security expert to realize that 20 Arabs on a bus with a Jewish driver and two or three passengers and one soldier with a gun is a set-up for an attack," Mr Ya’alon told Haaretz last year. | "You don't need to be a security expert to realize that 20 Arabs on a bus with a Jewish driver and two or three passengers and one soldier with a gun is a set-up for an attack," Mr Ya’alon told Haaretz last year. |
| Previously Palestinian workers could enter and leave Israel by any checkpoint. | Previously Palestinian workers could enter and leave Israel by any checkpoint. |
| Benjamin Netanyahu prays at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem following Likud's victory in Israel's general election | |
| Getty Images | |
| The motorcade carrying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drives across the plaza before the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City | |
| EPA | |
| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kisses his wife Sara as he claims victory in Tel Aviv | |
| Getty Images | |
| Isaac Herzog, right, and Tzipi Livni of the Zionist Union party make statements in their headquarters on their party's future role following its decisive loss in the Israeli general election | |
| EPA | |
| Co-leader of the Zionist Union party, Israeli Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog, delivers a speech as he reacts to exit poll figures, in Tel Aviv | |
| Getty Images | |
| Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrate as election results come in at his election campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv | |
| Getty Images | |
| Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party react to exit poll figures | |
| Getty Images | |
| Likud Party supporters celebrate after the exit polls were announced, at the party's headquarters in Tel Aviv | |
| Getty Images | |
| A screen displays exit poll results showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin's Netanyahu Likud party and Isaac Herzog's centre-left Zionist Union neck-and-neck, in Tel Aviv | |
| Getty Images | |
| Copies of ballot papers and campaign posters for Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party lie on the ground in the aftermath of the country's parliamentary elections | |
| AFP/Getty | |
| Vandalized posters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near a polling station in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron | |
| EPA | |
| A woman waves an Israeli national flag outside a polling station in Tel Aviv | |
| Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Jerusalem | |
| Israeli MP and chairperson of center-right Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, takes a selfie with his wife Lihi (R) and his supporters, outside a polling station in Tel Aviv | |
| Ultra orthodox Jews line up to vote in Bnei Brak | |
| Israeli Arab political leader and head of a joint list of Arab parties, Ayman Odeh, casts his ballot with his children at a polling station in the coastal city oh Haifa | |
| Isaac Herzog (standing in foreground on L), co-leader of the centre-left Zionist Union party, poses next to his wife Michal as he casts his vote for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Tel Aviv | |
| An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man casts his ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem | |
| An Israeli ceections committee worker prepare ballots at a polling station for the Israeli general elections in the city of Haifa | |
| A supporter of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, or Sephardic Torah Guardians, holds a campaign poster depicting the party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv. Israel's Sephardic community, Jews of Middle Eastern descent, have traditionally been the Likud party's backbone. But political analysts say Sephardim may throw their support elsewhere in the March 17 election, angry over the high cost of living and housing prices | |
| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, visits a construction site in Har Homa, east Jerusalem, a day ahead of legislative elections. Netanyahu is seeking his fourth term as prime minister | |
| The change flies in the face of the views of GOC Central Commander, responsible for regional Israeli Defence Force units and brigades in the West Bank, who refuted claims common buses are a security risk. | The change flies in the face of the views of GOC Central Commander, responsible for regional Israeli Defence Force units and brigades in the West Bank, who refuted claims common buses are a security risk. |
| Major General Nitzan Alon maintained that as these workers were in Israel they were already – should they be dangerous – in a position to conduct an attack, irrespective of their travelling method. | Major General Nitzan Alon maintained that as these workers were in Israel they were already – should they be dangerous – in a position to conduct an attack, irrespective of their travelling method. |
| The pilot progamme was intended to be introduced in January, but was delayed after legal considerations saw three further checkpoints (Rayhan, Hala, Eliyahu) added to prevent possible Israeli High Court appeals. | The pilot progamme was intended to be introduced in January, but was delayed after legal considerations saw three further checkpoints (Rayhan, Hala, Eliyahu) added to prevent possible Israeli High Court appeals. |
| Michael Sfard, a legal counsel to Yesh Din, told Haaretz that the organisation will contest the step with “all legal means available.” | Michael Sfard, a legal counsel to Yesh Din, told Haaretz that the organisation will contest the step with “all legal means available.” |