Airbnb says
it will remove from its listings all homes in Israeli settlements in the
occupied West Bank.
The US firm
said it had made the decision because settlements were at the "core of the
dispute between Israelis and Palestinians".
The move has
been welcomed by Palestinians but Israel has called it "shameful" and
threatened legal action.
The West
Bank settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel
disputes this.
Airbnb has
previously been criticised by Palestinian officials and human rights
campaigners for allowing listings of homes to rent in Israeli settlements.
A statement
from the company said: "US law permits companies like Airbnb to engage in
business in these territories.
"At the
same time, many in the global community have stated that companies should not
do business here because they believe companies should not profit on lands
where people have been displaced."
Following an
evaluation, it said: "We concluded that we should remove listings in
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the
dispute between Israelis and Palestinians."
Saeb Erekat,
secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said it was
"crucial for Airbnb to follow the position of international law that
Israel is the occupying power and that Israeli settlements in the West Bank,
including occupied east Jerusalem, are illegal and constitute war crimes".
But Israeli
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said Airbnb's decision was "the most wretched
of wretched capitulations to the boycott efforts".
He said
Israel would respond by backing lawsuits by settlement listers against Airbnb
in US courts.
The Yesha
Council, which represents Israeli settlers, accused Airbnb of becoming "a
political site" and said the decision was "the result of either
anti-Semitism or capitulation to terrorism, or both".
The decision
was announced the day before Human Rights Watch was set to publish a report
examining Airbnb's business in the settlements.
The
organisation praised Airbnb's decision on Twitter, hailing it as "a
breakthrough".
For 2 years, @hrw has spoken with @Airbnb
about their brokering of rentals in illegal Israeli settlements. Today, a
breakthrough. pic.twitter.com/W6VTuDDXB9
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) November 19,
2018
The issue of
settlements is one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Israel and
the Palestinians.
More than
600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation of
the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
The
Palestinians see them as a major obstacle to peace and a barrier to a hoped-for
Palestinian state on land which they occupy.
Israel says
such an argument is a pretext for avoiding direct peace talks, and that the
fate of settlements should be negotiated in accordance with peace accords signed
with the Palestinians in 1993.
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