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| Israel Cancels Project Barring Palestinians From Some Buses | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| JERUSALEM — Responding to intense criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday abruptly shelved a contentious pilot project introduced this week that prohibited Palestinians returning to the West Bank from riding on the same buses as Israelis. | JERUSALEM — Responding to intense criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday abruptly shelved a contentious pilot project introduced this week that prohibited Palestinians returning to the West Bank from riding on the same buses as Israelis. |
| The decision to cancel the plan came as the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, was making her way to the region to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. | The decision to cancel the plan came as the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, was making her way to the region to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. |
| The Israeli government’s turnabout reflected the acute domestic sensitivity over the country’s image abroad, particularly given its new, narrow government dominated by right-wing and religious parties, and the growing frustration in the West over the impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. | |
| Opposition politicians had denounced the plan as immoral and racist, and said it smacked of apartheid. There was also criticism from some more conservative quarters. | Opposition politicians had denounced the plan as immoral and racist, and said it smacked of apartheid. There was also criticism from some more conservative quarters. |
| The plan was conceived by the Israeli Defense Ministry in response to pressure from Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who have long demanded separate transportation for the Palestinians. | The plan was conceived by the Israeli Defense Ministry in response to pressure from Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank who have long demanded separate transportation for the Palestinians. |
| “These proposals are unacceptable to the prime minister,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu. “He spoke to the defense minister this morning, and they decided to shelve the matter.” | |
| The prime minister appeared to have been taken by surprise when the Israeli news media reported on Wednesday morning that the three-month pilot project had begun, though officials in Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to confirm that. | The prime minister appeared to have been taken by surprise when the Israeli news media reported on Wednesday morning that the three-month pilot project had begun, though officials in Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to confirm that. |
| The plan called for Palestinians who work in Israel to return to the West Bank at the end of the day through one of four designated Israeli checkpoints, and then take Palestinian buses to their towns and villages. They would no longer have been allowed to take Israeli buses traveling in the direction of West Bank settlements, which cuts down on travel time for Palestinians who live along the way. | The plan called for Palestinians who work in Israel to return to the West Bank at the end of the day through one of four designated Israeli checkpoints, and then take Palestinian buses to their towns and villages. They would no longer have been allowed to take Israeli buses traveling in the direction of West Bank settlements, which cuts down on travel time for Palestinians who live along the way. |
| Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader in the West Bank, said that the plan for segregated buses was particularly “blunt,” but that other forms of segregation were still in place, pointing to the existence of roads in the West Bank that are exclusively for use by Israelis. | |
| Of the aborted bus plan, he said, “This revealed the fact that Israel unfortunately has transformed the situation into a system of apartheid.” |