The United Nations released today Wednesday a list of 112 companies that practice activities in Israeli settlements that are considered illegal by international law, including Air BNP, Expedia and Trip Advisor.

"I understand that this issue has been and is still being debated," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michel Bachelet, stressing that this report is "based on facts." She added in a statement that this report "expresses serious interest" in this "unprecedented and complex" work.

The report comes in response to a decision issued by the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in 2016 requesting "a database of all companies that carry out special activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories."

The statement indicated that this list "does not constitute - nor is it intended to constitute - a judicial or quasi-judicial process", in an implicit reference to Israeli concerns about its use as a means of boycott.

For its part, Israel announced its rejection of the list, and its Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz, said in a statement, "It is a shameful surrender to the countries and organizations that exerted pressure to harm Israel," noting that many countries expressed concern about the list.

Israeli officials said the list would be used to justify a large-scale boycott of the country's private sector, and they questioned the legitimacy of the Human Rights Council.

victory
For their part, the Palestinians praised the list as a "victory of international law." The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki praised the publication of the report, and urged the international community to put pressure on these companies to cut their ties to the settlements.

In a statement, Al-Maliki stated that "publishing this list of companies and entities operating in the settlements is a victory for international law."

The minister urged the member states of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council of the international organization to direct "instructions to these companies to end their work immediately with the settlement system."

He said that this step "drains the sources of the colonial system of illegal settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory."

Among the names mentioned are international companies such as "Air BNP", "" Altsom "," "Booking.com.com" "and" Motorola Solutions ".

It is worth noting that 94 of these companies are based in Israel, while the remaining 18 companies are located in different countries.

This report was supposed to be issued three years ago, but was repeatedly postponed.

Bachelet’s human rights commissioner’s office said he had reviewed more than 300 companies. The list published today, Wednesday, on 112 companies, showed that there are "logical reasons for saying that they are involved in many special activities or activities that were referred to" in the decision issued in 2016.

More than 400,000 Israelis live in about 150 settlements built in the occupied West Bank on the lands of the nearly three million Palestinians.