Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

In February, the UN Human Rights Council released a long-awaited list of 112 companies actively involved in business activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The list of 112 companies contained within the report refers to a wide range of sectors including construction, food, banks, retail and transport. Most are headquartered in Israel with more than a dozen headquartered internationally.

“The publication of this list is a timely reminder that settlements are illegal and must never be normalized. Listed businesses have no excuse; to continue their involvement in Israeli settlements is to knowingly breach their international obligations,” said Saleh Higazi, Amnesty International’s Middle East Deputy director.

By Laith Abu Zeyad, Amnesty International campaigner on Israel/ Palestine

On June 20, World Refugee Day, TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer published an op-ed urging businesses to help address the global refugee crisis and pledging to donate millions of dollars to humanitarian organisations "to support and help refugees rebuild their lives and reclaim their futures".

This is, of course, a commendable initiative, if only it did not contradict in spirit other practices of the company. While TripAdvisor has decided to help refugees in certain parts of the world, elsewhere - namely in the occupied Palestinian territories - it is contributing to the suffering of the local population, which itself is the source of one of the world's largest refugee communities.

Dear TripAdvisor employees,

We are writing to ask you to join us in speaking out against TripAdvisor’s role in driving human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Amnesty International is the world’s largest human rights organization, with more than seven million supporters and members globally. Through research and campaigning, we help ensure respect for people’s human rights and that those who violate them are held accountable. We also campaign for a world in which companies respect human rights and don’t contribute to, or profit from, human rights violations wherever they operate in the world.

Beyond Israel’s internationally recognized border is the Palestinian territory — the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip — which it has occupied since the 1967 war.

While Israel rejects that it’s the occupying power, there is a virtual wall-to-wall consensus among the international community — including the United Nations, the European Union, the International Court of Justice, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Canada — that the laws of occupation, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, apply in full to the Palestinian territory.

I am a Special Rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation in the Palestinian territory, and my co-author is the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada. So we know that the laws of occupation are strict.

In March 1976, Israel ordered the confiscation of 2,000 hectares of land that belonged to Palestinian citizens of Israel. In response, on March 30 of the same year, Palestinians held demonstrations across Galilee in the north all the way to the Negev in the South. Six Palestinians were killed and more than a hundred were injured.

Following these horrific events, this day came to be known as Land Day or ‘Yom Al-Ard’, an annual observance in which Palestinians commemorate and demonstrate their commitment to the right and ownership of their land.

Since 1967, Israel’s policy of constructing and expanding illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land has continued unabated, and is one of the main driving forces behind the mass human rights violations resulting from the occupation.

Over the past 50 years, Israel has:

demolished tens of thousands of Palestinian properties

Since 1967 when it captured the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), it has been Israeli government policy to promote the creation and expansion of Israeli settlements in the OPT.  This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and is one of the main driving forces behind the mass human rights violations resulting from the occupation.

Meanwhile, companies from all over the world are conducting business activities in settlements and, in doing so, are helping sustain and expand Israel’s settlements in the OPT.  

Digital tourism companies, like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor, are profiting from war crimes by listing properties and attractions in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

50 YEARS OF OCCUPATION.

50 years of dispossession.

50 years of forced evictions, demolitions and forcible transfer.

50 years of arbitrary arrests, detention and unfair trials.

50 years of unlawful killings. 50 years of human rights violations and war crimes.

Join our campaign, marking the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip; and call on Canada to prevent the import of settlement goods,  and to stop Canadian businesses from operating in, Israel’s illegal settlements.

Entire Palestinian communities have been displaced by these settlements. Their homes and livelihoods have been destroyed, they have had restrictions enforced on their movement, access to their own water, land or and other natural resources. The communities are frequently and violently attacked by the Israeli military and settlers.