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FILE PHOTO: A woman speaks on the phone at Airbnb headquarters in the SOMA district of San Francisco, California, United States, on August 2, 2016. REUTERS / Gabrielle LurieReuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Airbnb House Rental Company Inc
said on Monday that it would abolish inscriptions in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move Israel has described as "miserable surrender" towards boycotters and hailed Palestinians as a step in before towards peace.
The decision, which concerns some 200 lists, should take effect in the coming days, said Airbnb.
Israel captured the West Bank during a war in 1967. Its settlements are considered illegal by most world powers.
Palestinians consider settlements and the military presence necessary to protect them as obstacles to their goal of creating a state. Israel is challenging it.
"We concluded that we should remove the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Airbnb said on its website.
"We hope that one day at the earliest a framework will be put in place where the entire global community will align so that this historic conflict is resolved, as well as the way forward for all."
Palestinians and their supporters had long lobbied Airbnb to remove the settlements from the list. Israel strongly opposes such boycott calls as a biased approach to the conflict.
Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin described Airbnb's decision as "the most miserable of capitulations to boycott efforts".
Speaking on Channel 13 Israeli television, he said that Israel had not been informed of the decision in advance and that it would react by supporting the lawsuits filed. by advocates of Airbnb settlement agreements in US courts.
Waleed Assraf, chairman of the Palestinian anti-colonization group led by the Palestine Liberation Organization, hailed Airbnb's decision. If other companies did the same, he told Reuters, "it will help bring peace."
Oded Revivi, mayor of Efrat settlement in the West Bank and representative of the Supreme Council of Settlers, Yesha, said that Airbnb's decision was contrary to the stated mission of the company to help to " bring people together in as many cities as possible around the world. "
"When they make such a decision, they mingle with politics, which will hurt the very purpose of the company," Revivi told Reuters.
Human Rights Watch said Airbnb's move had been announced on the eve of a 65-page report on tourist lodges in settlements, including Airbnb.
"Airbnb's decision to terminate its listings in Israeli settlements is an important recognition of the fact that these listings may not fit with its human rights responsibilities," he said. Monday the group. We urge other companies to do the same. "to be released Tuesday morning.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that also host more than 2.6 million Palestinians.
Israel views the West Bank, the biblical cradle of Judaism, as a security bulwark in the east. Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Peace talks sponsored by the United States have stalled since 2014.
Airbnb is planning an IPO next year after announcing in February not to debut in public this year.
(Additional story by Ali Sawafta and Stephen Farrell, Writing by Dan Williams, Edited by Richard Balmforth)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
