RAMALLAH, May 20, 2015 (WAFA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in a statement Wednesday, that Israel’s recent decision to separate bus lines in Israel and the West Bank between Arabs and Jews is a racial one, hours before the Israeli Walla website reported the suspension of the decision by Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Tuesday, the Israeli government launched a pilot program at the instruction of 'Defense' Minister Moshe Ya'alon to separate Israeli and Palestinian bus travel lines in the West Bank, the Israeli daily Haaretz revealed on Wednesday.

In the case that the program is approved, Palestinian workers would have to return from Israel to the West Bank via the same checkpoint they left and would not be allowed to ride Israeli bus lines.

So far, Palestinian workers who had entered Israel could return to the West Bank through any way they chose. In central Israel, thousands of workers who crossed into Israel through the Eyal checkpoint often returned to their homes on transit company Afik's buses that travel on Israel's Route 5 to the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

In recent years, the Samaria Settlers Committee, along with Ariel resident and newly minted Likud MK Oren Hazan, has launched a campaign calling for separation on buses, an act deemed racial by rights groups.

Haaretz said while the program had been slated to take effect in late January, it was delayed due to bureaucratic issues.  

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli decision is evidence to “inherent racism” in the Israeli community and government, and called upon the international community to immediately act to salvage peace in the region.

M.N/M.H