WELSH Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC Cymru) has called on the Hay Festival to drop its sponsorship deal with Airbnb over the company’s profits from illegal Israeli settlements.

PSC Cymru made the call amid growing international condemnation of Airbnb’s role in profiting from illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The United Nations has formally named Airbnb in its database of companies implicated in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank, settlements the International Court of Justice has ruled are unlawful.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and forensic architect Professor Eyal Weizman of Goldsmiths, University of London, have both withdrawn from this year’s festival in direct protest at the sponsorship.

Airbnb has partnered with Hay Festival to launch a writing award called Room to Write, championing “creativity and the importance of place and space in storytelling.”

PSC Cymru said the irony could not be more stark, with Airbnb simultaneously listing properties on land from which Palestinians have been violently displaced.

When Airbnb sponsored Vivid Sydney, an annual festival in Australia, last year multiple artists withdrew, refusing to allow their work to legitimise “unethical corporate relationships.”

Vivid Sydney subsequently dropped Airbnb as a sponsor.

PSC Cymru co-chairwoman Bethan Sayed said: “It is deeply shocking, and bitterly ironic, that the Hay Festival has taken money from Airbnb promote ‘the importance of place and space in storytelling,’ while Airbnb profits from the violent erasure and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

“By accepting Airbnb’s sponsorship, the Hay Festival is sending a clear message that Palestinian lives are not important, that stolen land is acceptable, and that war crimes are acceptable.

“The Hay Festival would not platform a plagiarist, and it must not platform land theft. Close the book on Airbnb. End the sponsorship now.”

Hay Festival CEO Julie Finch said: “As a charity, Hay Festival Global operates a mixed‑funding model that includes sponsorship, grant funding, ticket revenue, memberships and donations.

“This income supports the ongoing viability and accessibility of the festival, enabling us to celebrate literature, arts and culture each year, provide an international platform for intellectual and creative exchange, and widen access to ideas, creativity and debate.

“When Hay Festival Global is offered sponsorship or funding, we consider this carefully in line with our charitable purpose and relevant governance guidelines. In all sponsorship and funding agreements, the Festival retains full editorial independence.”