Golan Heights – IDIS Observer

Palestinian campaigners call for mass boycott of Airbnb today, on Wednesday the 15th of May, which is the 71st anniversary of the Nakba. Airbnb was supposed to refuse listing of rentals in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, but Airbnb has reversed their decision. (1, 2) The amount of illegal settlements has risen significantly during Trump’s presidency and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is even going to name one Jewish settlement in the disputed Golan Heights after Trump. (3, 4)

I am a lifestyle traveler and I have used Airbnb – and other hospitality companies – frequently. As an avid supporter of two-state solution and Palestinian rights I was happy to learn that Airbnb had decided to remove listings that are in illegal Israeli settlements. The fact that Airbnb has reversed their decision is very disappointing. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations have condemned companies such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and TripAdvisor because they have accepted listings from illegal Israeli settlements. (1, 2) Amnesty International mentioned those four companies in their report:

“In doing business with settlements, all four companies are contributing to, and profiting from, the maintenance, development and expansion of illegal settlements, which amount to war crimes under international criminal law.” (2)

I am probably not the only small income traveler who has this great dilemma: how to find affordable accommodation while traveling without compromising the things that are important to me? How many hospitality companies will have courage to support two-state solution and Palestinian rights?

References:

1) “Palestinian campaigners call for mass boycott of Airbnb on May 15” Al Jazeera 14.5.2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/palestinian-campaigners-call-mass-boycott-airbnb-15-190514150835132.html

2) “Airbnb to allow listings from illegal Israeli settlements” Al Jazeera 10.4.2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/airbnb-listings-illegal-israeli-settlements-190410002223703.html

3) “Trump era boosted illegal Israeli settlement building, report reveals” Daily Sabah 14.5.2019

https://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2019/05/14/trump-era-boosted-illegal-israeli-settlement-building-report-reveals

4) “Netanyahu Seeks to Name a Golan Heights Settlement for President Trump” New York Times 23.4.2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/middleeast/netanyahu-golan-heights-trump.html

Hello again. After my last post my computer crashed and it has taken a little while to fix everything. The horrible terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, have had serious consequences for example in Britain, where amount of anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 593% in the week after the attack (1). While we are still trying to find out all the reasons why the Australian man became a white supremacist terrorist, this post is about slightly another kind of right-wing politics.

President Trump made controversial and provocative decision by formally recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Israel-occupied Golan Heights. Trump’s declaration was condemned widely. According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “clear that the status of Golan has not changed.” The Arab League said that “Trump’s recognition does not change the area’s status.” (2, 3)

Trump’s decision has been seen as an attempt to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to win the parliamentary elections next month (2), but there may be other reasons, as well. In 2013, Israel granted the first license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights to an American company called Genie Energy – the company’s advisory board includes former vice president Dick Cheney, Lord Jacob Rothschild and media mogul Rupert Murdoch (4, 5). One of the biggest owners of Genie Energy is hedge fund Renaissance Technologies LLC – Robert Mercer, the co-CEO of the hedge fund, was also financial backer of Cambridge Analytica, a voter-data firm that worked closely with the presidential campaign of President Trump (6, 7).

The Economist reported in 2015, that Genie Energy and its Israeli subsidiary Genie Oil & Gas believed to have found an oil reservoir “with the potential of billions of barrels” (8). In 2017, Genie Energy created a new subsidiary, Atid Drilling Ltd., to take care of various drilling projects in Israel. Atid has worked together with another Genie Energy subsidiary, Afek Oil and Gas, in order to drill oil exploration wells in the Golan Heights. (9, 10) Zack Colman reported in E&E News in February 2018 that (former) US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met Efraim “Effie” Eitam, far-right former Israeli politician and head of Afek Oil and Gas, in September 2017. Colman wrote that Afek Oil and Gas “has drilling operations in the Golan Heights, a disputed territory that the international community has explicitly said does not belong to Israel.” Colman continued that the meeting raised “concerns about the appearance that the Trump administration is sanctioning unlawful energy exploration.” Colman also mentioned that Ira Greenstein, ex-chairman of Genie Energy’s former parent company, IDT Corp., is a family friend of Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. Greenstein also worked in the White House. (11)

F. William Engdahl wrote in 2017:

“…unless there is some very careful rethinking on the part of Washington and of Israel, we might find ourselves in another war for oil in of all places the Golan Heights…” (9)

References:

1) “Anti-Muslim hate crimes soar in UK after Christchurch shootings” The Guardian 22.3.2019

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/22/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-soar-in-uk-after-christchurch-shootings

2) “Trump formally recognises Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights” Al Jazeera 25.3.2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/trump-formally-recognises-israeli-sovereignty-golan-heights-190325153937336.html

3) “Trump’s support for Israeli Golan Heights draws global anger” Al Jazeera 26.3.2018

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/trump-support-israeli-golan-heights-draws-global-anger-190325185150944.html h

4) “Israel Grants First Golan Heights Oil Drilling License To Dick Cheney-Linked Company” Business Insider 22.2.2013

https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-grants-golan-heights-oil-license-2013-2

5) Company overview of Genie Energy Ltd. Bloomberg 26.3.2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/board.asp?privcapId=113359359

6) Top 10 owners of Genie Energy Ltd CNN Business