By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 21:03 05/01/2010
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1140119.html

Egged bus company on Tuesday notified Neguhot residents in the West Bank
that the bus route to their settlement would be canceled, after Palestinians
hurled a Molotov cocktail that moderately wounded a woman on one of their
buses two weeks ago.

"The settlement is amazed that Egged has decided to stop the bus route to
our area," the residents said in a statement, adding that "instead of
strengthening the settlement's residents who live on the front line, Egged
has chosen the easy way out and retracted its responsibility."

Neguhot is a secluded settlement south of Mount Hebron, with only one road
leading into it.

About two weeks ago a teenage woman from the settlement was moderately hurt
when a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the Egged bus she was traveling on
from Kiryat Gat to Neguhot.

Egged has until now provided transportation to the settlement twice a day,
but has decided to stop immediately, saying they do not have an armored bus
needed to protect their passengers in the area.

"We don't need to go there," said Egged CEO Miki Levy. "It's on a hill, it's
a problematic area, only three to four people take the bus and we lose money
on that line.

"After the recent incident we received a letter that stated that sending
unprotected busses to the area is against protocol, and I'm not going to
armor my buses for five people," he added.