Occupied Jerusalem - Home-renting company Airbnb Inc said on Monday that it would remove listings in Jewish colonies in the occupied West Bank, enclaves that most world powers consider illegal for taking up land where Palestinians seek statehood.
“We concluded that we should remove listings in Israeli ...[colonies] in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians,” a statement on the Airbnb website said.
“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.” An Airbnb spokesman said the decision, affecting some 200 listings, would take effect in the days ahead.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli regime, which captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, nor from Palestinian authorities.
Some 500,000 Israeli colonists live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians.
Oded Revivi, “mayor” of the West Bank colony of Efrat and a representative of the umbrella colonist council Yesha, described the Airbnb decision as contrary to its mission, as stated on the website, of “help(ing) to bring people together in as many places as possible around the world”.
