Amnesty warns travel sites over Israeli colony listings

Occupied Jerusalem: Amnesty International on Wednesday urged online travel sites to ban listings from Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank.

The London-based rights group’s report, titled “Destination: Occupation,” said rental sites Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor are driving tourism to colonies that most of the world considers illegal.

Airbnb announced last November that it would remove West Bank colony listings but has yet to implement its decision. The company says it is working to identify the “precise boundaries” of areas subject to the policy.

Amnesty called on Airbnb to immediately implement its ban and to extend it to Occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel illegally captured along with the West Bank in the 1967 War. The Palestinians seek these lands for a future independent state.