Booking.com still active in occupied West Bank: report

The annual list of companies that remain active in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, put together by the European and Palestinian NGO collective Don’t Buy into Occupation (DBIO), features Dutch company Booking.com and British agricultural vehicle and truck maker CNH Industrial, which has its headquarters in Amsterdam.
The DBIO has been publishing an inventory of all the companies and financial organisations that continue to support the illegal occupation since 2021.
Booking.com has for years offered accommodation in several illegal settlements in the area. The company mentions that the accommodation may be in a “conflict zone” but remains silent about it being in illegally occupied territory, this year’s report said.
According to Israeli research centre Who Profits, CNH Industrial equipment is being used to build illegal settlements and destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank.
The list is based on a United Nations list of companies that contribute to human rights infringements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as data from Israeli and American research centres.
Dutch financial organisations, such as pension funds and banks, also figure in the list, with investments totalling some $10.9 billion in companies active in the occupied territories and shares worth $63 billion between 2023 and 2025.
ING Bank was the biggest investor with $10 billion while the Netherlands’ biggest pension fund ABP held shares worth over $20 billion.
In a reaction to questions from DBIO, ING said it had “no indications” that it supported activities conducive to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, including military activity.
The report also mentioned the growing group of multinationals that are withdrawing from investing in occupation-linked companies. Earlier this year, the ABP sold off shares worth €387 million in bulldozer maker Caterpillar. Israel is using the bulldozers to tear down Palestinian property on the West Bank and in Gaza.
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