Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked a controversial plan to ban Palestinian workers from riding the same bus lines as Israelis, hours after it was approved by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Radio Israel reported.

Netanyahu ordered the suspension of the plan after it was condemned by opposition leaders and Palestinians, with some likening it to the apartheid system in South Africa.

Under Yaalon's plan, Palestinians would have to return from Israel to the West Bank via the same checkpoint they departed from. They would not be allowed to ride Israeli bus lines.

A defense ministry official said that, under the three-month project, hundreds of Palestinian workers who travel each day to work in Israel from the West Bank would have to change buses to avoid vehicles carrying Israelis.