Booking.com to put warnings on listings in illegal Israeli settlements

Global hotel booking website Booking.com is introducing a warning to customers visiting listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

The warning states that bookings for listings in an Israeli settlement will tell users 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”.

Booking.com said the warning applied to all listings in conflict zones worldwide and aimed to “make it easier for every person to experience the world”.

“In accordance with this goal, we are attempting to ensure that our clients have the information needed in order to make decisions about destinations they wish to visit,” Booking.com told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

'Certain areas in the world affected by conflict may pose a greater risk to travellers'

- Booking.com

“Certain areas in the world affected by conflict may pose a greater risk to travellers, so we provide our customers with information to help make decisions and encourage them to check their government’s official travel guidelines as part of the decision-making process.” 

Israeli media reports said the warning will be introduced on Thursday and may include the word “occupied” in the amended listings for Israeli settlements. 

A report by the Hatzinor television programme said that Booking.com might add warnings to listings in occupied East Jerusalem. 

Israel occupied the West Bank and Jerusalem's eastern neighbourhoods, including the Old City, in the 1967 Middle East war. Since then, it has settled hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the territories in contravention of international law.

Booking.com rival Airbnb previously planned to delist properties in Israeli settlements, but in 2019 backtracked on the decision and said it would take no profits in the territory, instead donating proceeds to international humanitarian aid organisations. 

According to Israeli NGO Peace Now, more than 450,000 settlers live in the West Bank alongside 2.8 million Palestinians. Another 230,000 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem.