Coalition demands Airbnb remove vacation listings from Israeli settlements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(WASHINGTON DC 03/07/2016) - More than 140,000 people from around the world have joined with an international coalition of advocacy organizations and signed a petition demanding that Airbnb immediately end the practice of listing properties in Israeli settlements, built illegally in the occupied West Bank, on its vacation rentals website. 

The coalition has also launched a new microsite parodying Airbnb and calling attention to the the fact that the vacation rental company continues to list Israeli settlement units. 

“When someone vacations in settlement property they are directly funding occupation and the suffering of the Palestinian people,” said Kristin Szremski, AMP's director of media and communications. “Palestinians are not even allowed on the roads surrounding the settlements. These properties are not in keeping with Airbnb’s strict anti-discrimination policies and we ask Airbnb to remove all properties in Israeli settlements.”

According to international law and official US policy, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal.  The Israeli settlement enterprise is part of a decades-old military occupation that has confiscated 42 percent of Palestinian land for settlement construction, resulting in the loss of freedom of movement and other severe human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.  By listing rentals in Israel’s settlements, Airbnb facilitates and benefits from the transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territory, which is forbidden under international law.

 Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported that Airbnb had been allowing Israeli settlers in the West Bank to list their homes as “in Israel” with no mention that they are on occupied Palestinian land. In addition to misleading potential renters and aiding the Israeli government in laying permanent claim to all the land under its control, some of the proprietors have explicitly discriminated against people with Arab or Palestinians names, in direct violation of Airbnb’s stated policies.  

A Human Rights Watch report published in January stated that businesses should withdraw from the settlements to end their complicity in "an inherently unlawful and abusive system that violates the rights of Palestinians." 

The coalition has been applying pressure on Airbnb and asking its leadership to comply with its own strong anti-discrimination policies and remove settlement properties from its list of vacation rentals. 

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 The coalition includes American Muslims for Palestine, the US Palestinian Community Network, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace,  CODEPINK Women for Peace,  and SumOfUs.

View the petition here:  http://bit.ly/1L6OEVx

The American Muslims for Palestine is a national education and advocacy organization, whose mission is raise awareness about Palestine's rich cultural, historic and religious heritage in attempts to build a grassroots movement that will urge Congress to create a more fair and balanced foreign policy for everyone in the Middle East.

CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.

Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. Jewish Voice for Peace has over 200,000 online supporters, over 60 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition of hundreds of groups working to end all U.S. support for Israel's military occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians. We stand for freedom, justice, and equality.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network is a Palestinian community-based organization founded in 2006 to revitalize grassroots organizing in the Palestinian community in the U.S. as part of the broader Palestinian nation in exile and the homeland.

SumOfUs.orgis a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path for our global economy.

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