The Palestinian ambassador to Britain has called on the UK government to act over the planned promotion of an Israeli agency linked to settlement construction at a London travel exhibition. His intervention followed a Middle East Eye report about organisations taking part in the Israeli government tourist office’s stand at World Travel Market London, scheduled for 3 to 5 November.
Among those sharing the stand is iTravelJerusalem, which markets tourism in occupied East Jerusalem and is managed by the Jerusalem Development Authority. The authority, known as the JDA, is a statutory body of the Israeli government and Jerusalem municipality. Its development work across Jerusalem has included extensive involvement in building and expanding illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
Writing on X on Thursday night, ambassador Hussam Zomlot pointed to the British government’s announcement the previous month that it would ban the promotion of illegal settlements and sanction those supporting or profiting from them. He accused Israeli companies due to appear at the exhibition of ethnic cleansing and urged ministers to enforce their commitments. Labour MP Sarah Champion also questioned why an agency involved in settlement construction was being advertised at the event.
In September, Britain recognised Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory as illegal and announced comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements. Addressing parliament that month, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband cited a London exhibition that had advertised settlement land and pledged to ban such advertising in the UK.
That pledge followed scrutiny of the Great Israeli Real Estate Event in London. The Foreign Office referred the event to the advertising regulator in June after Middle East Eye reported that it had advertised properties in illegal settlements. The outlet subsequently reported in August that the regulator had not launched an investigation. Another participant sharing Israel’s travel fair stand is Africa Israel Hotels, formerly part of the Africa Israel Group, which has been involved in settlement projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
A 2025 report from the Office of the European Union Representative for the West Bank and Gaza Strip described JDA plans to evict approximately 40 Palestinian families from the Umm Haroun compound in Sheikh Jarrah and build a settlement containing 320 units. The authority also plans a large settlement housing development beside the Palestinian community of Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem.
The JDA’s Jerusalem cable car project received Israeli government approval in 2020. It would require trees to be uprooted and infrastructure, including water, sewage and telecommunications facilities, to be displaced. The scheme remains under way and actively promoted despite strong local opposition and the withdrawal of four foreign companies. Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh says it threatens Palestinian communities and Jerusalem’s historic landscape, and argues that its central purpose is to strengthen settlers’ control and displace Palestinians.
The authority is also promoting a disputed renovation of the Mamilla Pool tourist site in Jerusalem’s old city. Critics say the work threatens a centuries-old Palestinian Muslim cemetery. World Travel Market had not answered Middle East Eye’s request for comment when its report was published.
