Amazon’s free shipping to Israeli settlements 'biased,' Hamas says
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has censured online retail giant Amazon over its policy that allows the Jewish settlers living in settlements free delivery but charges Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“The American Amazon company’s announcement that it provides a free delivery service to settlers in the occupied West Bank while forcing the Palestinians to select their address as being in the occupation state is a violation of all international laws and a blatant bias in favor of the Zionist right-wing vision,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem stated in a press release on Saturday.
“Such a decision by Amazon is inconsistent with the UN resolutions, which criminalize settlements and the companies that deal with them.”
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In a statement on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority's Economy Ministry said it will send a letter to Amazon, demanding an immediate halt of its commercial activities in Israeli settlements.
The ministry also said it will seek legal action against the e-commerce company over “its discrimination policy that favors illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories over the indigenous Palestinian population.”
The move came after a report by the English-language international daily newspaper Financial Times revealed that upon running West Bank addresses listed as Israeli through Amazon's delivery portal, the online retailer offers free shipping to settlements on the occupied Palestinian territory.
Customers who select “Palestinian Territories” as their address, however, are subject to shipping and handling fees upwards of $24.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
According to human rights groups, incidents of sabotage and violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians and their property are a daily occurrence throughout the West Bank.
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