RAMALLAH, Thursday, April 11, 2019 (WAFA) – The decision by the international travel agency, Airbnb, to rescind an earlier decision and resume advertising in Israeli settlement illegally built in the occupied territories has been strongly criticized by Palestinian officials.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a tweet that Airbnb’s decision shows that the company has no ethics.

“They, as well as other companies that engage in businesses with Israeli settlements, have shown to have no ethics, violating the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, and encouraging Israel to perpetuate the occupation,” said Erekat in a tweet.

The decision “signals the complicity of the company with the systematic denial of our inalienable right to self-determination.”

Erekat said Airbnb “announcement that they are not going to make profits out of their businesses in the occupied Palestinian territory is nothing but a shameful attempt at whitewashing their complicity.

“In fact, this furthers the Palestinian suffering they themselves have acknowledged causing by continuing to provide services to benefit Israel‘s colonial settlement enterprise. We utterly reject their position and will soon announce further steps on the matter.”

M.K.