FOA welcomes Booking.com’s decision to label accommodation in illegal Israeli settlements as existing on “occupied” Palestinian land, but it must do more.

For several years, FOA, together with other anti-apartheid organisations, has run a campaign urging Booking.com to divest from the apartheid state of Israel. #DestinationApartheid asks the online travel agency not to advertise accommodation on illegally occupied Palestinian land, and to issue a public statement to this effect.

Recently, Booking.com announced that accommodation in illegal Israeli settlements will be labelled as “occupied” and come with a warning message that “visiting the area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety and human rights, or other risks to the local community and visitors”. But this risk to safety and human rights is a direct consequence of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime.

According to Amnesty International, Booking.com has at least 45 hotel and rental contracts within illegal Israeli settlements, making it complicit in Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. According to international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention, as the occupying power Israel is prohibited from transferring its population into the occupied lands of Palestine.

Booking.com must stop listing accommodation and experiences on illegally occupied Palestinian land. Instead, it must instead adopt a robust policy on this issue and publicly commit to standing against ethnic cleansing and apartheid.