Israel suspends plans to segregate buses

Israel’s prime minister has overruled his defence minister and called off a proposed plan to segregate Palestinians from Israelis on West Bank buses.

Benjamin Netanyahu called defence minister Moshe Yaalon to tell him he found the proposal “unacceptable” and the two decided to freeze the plan, an official in the prime minister’s office said.

Earlier in the day, Mr Yaalon launched the three-month pilot programme following repeated complaints from Jewish settlers who use the buses and say Palestinian workers constitute a security threat and frequently engage in sexual harassment of female Jewish passengers.

Thousands of Palestinians enter Israel for work each day from the West Bank and often travel alongside Jewish settlers.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog attacked the decision, saying it marked a “stain on the face of the country”.