Ramallah: On the first day of their mission, two Israeli buses allocated to Palestinian labourers travelling between the West Bank and Israel were set alight in Kufr Qasem village of the 1948 areas. The action was to show rejection of the launch of Palestinian-only bus lines, which has been termed a racist move.

The Israeli Reshet Bet Radio reported on Tuesday that the Israeli Police ordered the bus companies which launched the new bus lines to move their vehicles from the Arab villages and towns of the 1948 areas effective immediately.

The Israeli radio station said that the burning of the buses came in response to the Israeli segregation decision which in turn followed complaints by Israeli colonists that Palestinian labourers on board shared buses were a security risk.

Speaking to Gulf News, Shaher Sa’ad, President of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade, Workers and Labour Unions, said that the Palestinians have started a major international campaign to denounce the Israeli racist and unjustifiable decision. “We are working with maximum speed to finalize a complaint against Israel to be lodged with the International Labour Organisation,” he added.

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