Jerusalem | Home-renting company Airbnb said on Monday that it would remove listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move Israel called a “wretched capitulation” to boycotters and Palestinians hailed as a step towards peace.
The decision, affecting about 200 listings, would take effect in the coming days, Airbnb said.
Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war. Its settlements there are considered illegal by most world powers.
Palestinians deem the settlements, and the military presence needed to protect them, to be obstacles to their goal of establishing a state. Israel disputes this.
“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,” Airbnb said on its website.
“Our hope is that someday sooner rather than later, a framework is put in place where the entire global community is aligned so there will be a resolution to this historic conflict and a clear path forward for everybody to follow.”
Palestinians and their supporters had long lobbied Airbnb to delist the settlements. Israel strongly opposes such calls for boycotts, which it considers a biased approach to the conflict.
Read the report by Dan Williams (Reuters) in the Australian Financial Review.