HRW lauds Airbnb’s West Bank move

HUMAN Rights Watch yesterday urged Booking.com to follow the example of Airbnb and withdraw listings for rentals located in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Airbnb said on Monday it will remove such listings, just ahead of the release of an HRW report criticizing the firm.

Israel strongly denounced Airbnb’s decision and threatened legal action against the company, while Palestinian officials welcomed it.

The US-based rights group issued its report yesterday and called on Booking.com to follow Airbnb’s “positive step.”

“By ending its brokering of rentals in illegal settlements on land off-limits to Palestinians, Airbnb has taken a stand against discrimination and land confiscation and theft,” said Omar Shakir, HRW’s director for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

HRW issued the report on the online reservations firms, entitled “Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land,” along with Israeli NGO Kerem Navot.

It says Airbnb, based in the US, listed at least 139 properties in West Bank settlements between March and July.

Netherlands-based Booking. com had 26 as of July, it said.

A total of 17 are on land Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians, according to HRW.

“Israelis and foreigners may rent properties in settlements, but Palestinian ID holders are effectively barred,” HRW said in a statement announcing the report’s release.

Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin yesterday threatened legal against Airbnb in the United States and Israel over its move, calling it “hypocritical and disgusting.”

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat has welcomed Airbnb’s decision as “an initial positive step.”