<article data-history-node-id="429257" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/airbnb-and-expedia-among-firms-tied-west-bank-settlements-un-report" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/airbnb-and-expedia-among-firms-tied-west-bank-settlements-un-report" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Airbnb and Expedia among firms tied to West Bank settlements: UN report</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="366" data-start="304">​The UN human rights office has named 158 companies with operations in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.</p> <p data-end="1095" data-start="926">The updated database, published on Friday, added 68 firms since its last release in 2023. The list includes travel giants Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor.</p> <p data-end="1298" data-start="1097">German cement producer Heidelberg Materials was also added, though it told Reuters it no longer operates in Palestinian territory and disputed its inclusion. Most of the new names were Israeli-based.</p> <p data-end="1502" data-start="1300">Seven firms were removed from the list, among them UK-registered Opodo and Spanish company eDreams ODIGEO, after the UN said there were grounds to believe they had ceased settlement-linked activities.</p> <p data-end="1689" data-start="1504">The rights office said the companies were engaged in activities raising “particular human rights concerns,” but none of the travel platforms responded to Reuters requests for comment.</p> <p data-end="1977" data-start="1691">Israel rejected the report, accusing the UN of unfairly targeting firms. Its mission in Geneva said the database “is meant to serve as a blacklist against businesses that have committed no wrongdoing,” insisting international law does not prohibit business activity in conflict zones.</p> </div> </div> </article>

As the world is wracked by war and injustice, Abbot Marion Nguyen offers a reflection on how monks live out a missionary spirit of peace.

<article data-history-node-id="425794" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/largest-displacement-1967-taking-place-occupied-west-bank-says-un" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/largest-displacement-1967-taking-place-occupied-west-bank-says-un" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Largest displacement since 1967 taking place in occupied West Bank, says UN</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The UN has warned that mass displacement in the occupied West Bank had hit levels not seen since the start of Israel's occupation of the territory nearly 60 years ago.</p> <p>It said an Israeli military operation launched in the north of the occupied West Bank in January had forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.&nbsp;</p> <p>The military operation "has been the longest since... the second Intifada", in the early 2000s, said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.</p> <p>"It is impacting several refugee camps in the area, and it is causing the largest population displacement of the Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967," she told reporters.</p> <p>The UN human rights office meanwhile warned that mass forced displacement by an occupation force could amount to ethnic cleansing.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since the Israeli military launched its operation in January, dubbed "Iron Wall", rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said that "about 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced" had been displaced from the north of the West Bank.&nbsp;</p> <p>Israeli security forces had during the same period issued demolition orders for about 1,400 homes in the northern West Bank, he said, describing the figures as "alarming".</p> <p>He pointed out that Israeli demolitions had displaced 2,907 Palestinians across the West Bank since October 2023.</p> <p>Another 2,400 Palestinians - nearly half of them children - had been displaced as a result of Israeli settler actions, he added, stating that the combined result was "emptying large parts of the West Bank of Palestinians".</p> <p>"Permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer," Kheetan said.</p> <p>Kheetan said 757 attacks by Israeli settlers had been recorded in the West Bank during the first half of the year, a 13 percent increase on the same period last year.</p> <p>The attacks injured 96 Palestinians in June alone, he told reporters, adding that this was the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians from Israeli settler attacks in over two decades.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since October 2023, at least 964 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to the UN.</p> <p>During that same period, 53 Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed confrontations - 35 of them in the West Bank and 18 in Israel.</p> <p><em>Reporting by AFP</em></p> </div> </div> </article>