A ‘Palestinians-only’ bus line is launched in Israel after settlers complain Palestinians are a ‘security risk’.<\/i><\/p>\n
Israel has launched two\u00a0Palestinians-only bus lines in the occupied West Bank,\u00a0a step an Israeli rights group described as racist and which the\u00a0Transport Ministry called an improvement in service.<\/p>\n
The left-wing Haaretz<\/em> daily reported that the ministry opened the\u00a0lines on Monday [4 Mar 2013], to be used by Palestinian labourers travelling between\u00a0the West Bank and Israel, after Jewish settlers complained that\u00a0Palestinians on mixed buses were a security risk.<\/p>\n “Creating separate bus lines for Israeli Jews and\u00a0Palestinians is a revolting plan,” Jessica Montell, director of\u00a0the B’Tselem rights group, said on Army Radio. “This is simply\u00a0racism. Such a plan cannot be justified with claims of security\u00a0needs or overcrowding.”<\/p>\n The Transport Ministry said the two new lines would “improve\u00a0public transport services for Palestinian workers entering Israel” and replace pirate buses charging them “exorbitant\u00a0prices”.<\/p>\n “The Ministry of Transport has not issued any instruction or\u00a0prohibition that prevents Palestinian workers from travelling on\u00a0public transport in Israel nor in Judea and Samaria,” it said,\u00a0referring to the West Bank.<\/p>\n “Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport is not authorised to\u00a0prevent any passenger from using public transport services.”<\/p>\n Concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n Rights groups, however, voiced concern that Israeli police\u00a0at checkpoints in the West Bank would remove Palestinian passengers from regular bus lines and order them to use the new\u00a0ones.<\/p>\n Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said all Palestinians\u00a0returning to the West Bank would be searched for stolen property, describing this as a routine Israeli precaution.<\/p>\n He said he did not know whether and how this might affect\u00a0Palestinian travel on regular buses.<\/p>\n Herzl Ben-Zvi, mayor of the Karnei Shomron settlement, said\u00a0the new lines “answer the needs of all passengers; Palestinians and settlers” because they would relieve\u00a0overcrowding on buses in the area.<\/p>\n Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war\u00a0and maintains a network of roadblocks in the territory, severely restricting movement of Palestinians in the area.<\/p>\n Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, for a future state, a claim supported by most world powers, which also view the settlements as illegal.<\/p>\n