Amnesty International Calls for Settlements Tourism Boycott

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DAILY DOSE | Amnesty International has called for a boycott of tourism of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Was this a fair move? Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director Philip Luther analyzes.

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In a report titled 'Destination: Occupation', the British NGO said that global tourism companies were profiting from 'war crimes' by listing services in West Bank settlements and in East Jerusalem.

'They are doing so despite knowing that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is governed by international humanitarian law under which Israeli settlements are deemed illegal,' the report said.

'They are doing so despite knowing that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is governed by international humanitarian law under which Israeli settlements are deemed illegal.'

Israeli officials immediately condemned the Amnesty report, which came months following a similar publication by Human Rights Watch and in the wake of a controversial decision by Airbnb to remove listings for rental properties in West Bank settlements.

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major obstacles to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

Some 430,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.6 million Palestinians in the West Bank, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War along with the predominantly Palestinian eastern sector of Jerusalem in moves never accepted by the international community.

Both the settlements and the status of Jerusalem are two of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Amnesty said that by promoting listings in close proximity to attractions in disputed territories, digital tourism companies were “normalizing” settlements.

'Many listings in settlements boast of their proximity to areas of natural beauty in the occupied territories, such as the Dead Sea, nature reserves and the desert,' the report said.

'By listing and promoting these natural features and nature-based activities and attractions the digital companies are increasing the attractiveness of the listings, securing greater numbers of tourists and ultimately benefiting financially from the illegal exploitation of Palestinian natural resources,' it added.

Amnesty singled out TripAdvisor in its report 'because of the company’s relative importance to the tourism industry in Israeli settlements.'

There was no immediate response from any of the companies.Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs and Internal Security Gilad Erdan blasted the report and Amnesty International, saying in a tweet that the NGO 'has become a leader in the anti-Semitic BDS campaign, and tonight’s report on Israel is an outrageous attempt to distort the facts, deny Jewish heritage and delegitimize Israel.'

Israel’s tourism minister Ze’ev Elkin said Hadashot television news that it was unfortunate that Amnesty had chosen a 'classic anti-Semitic template' to 'engage in denial of the historical truth and to act against Jewish heritage sites.'

The Jerusalem-based watchdog group NGO Monitor called the report 'anti-Semitic' in that it singles out the Jewish State for criticism while ignoring rights abuses in other disputed territories.

The same argument was levied against Airbnb after its decision to pull settlement listings from its platform. The company last week delisted properties in South Ossetia and Abhkazia, two contested autonomous areas in the republic of Georgia.

Airbnb operates in over 190 countries, but their site states that as they are required to comply with international regulations, they do not operate in various countries and jurisdictions.

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