Amazon has extended its free shipping promotion to the occupied Palestinian territories, a company spokesman confirmed to The New Arab on Wednesday, after previously offering free delivery to Israelis living in Jewish settlements while charging their Palestinian neighbors.
Last month, the Palestinian Authority announced it would take legal action against Amazon over “its discrimination policy that favors illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories over the indigenous Palestinian population”.
Following uproar, Amazon backs off measure offering free delivery only to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and will now provide the same service to Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/ZhzKuepEkD
— VPalestine (@VPalestineT) March 4, 2020
On Tuesday, Palestine’s Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology said the e-commerce giant will be offering free shipping to the Palestinian territories. Amazon spokesman Nick Caplin confirmed the policy change in an email to The New Arab.
In February, a Financial Times report revealed that, in blatant defiance of international law, Amazon was offering free shipping to illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, but not to Palestinians living in the same area.
#Palestine to Sue #Amazon over Free Shipping to Illegal Jewish #Settlements https://t.co/0efTeRxKlI via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/nmyCCsFCQe
— Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 20, 2020
In fact, Palestinian customers who list their address as “the Palestinian Territories” were forced to pay shipping and handling fees starting from $24.
Amazon was not included in the United Nations Human Rights Council’s database of companies operating in the illegal settlements released last week.
(The Palestine Chronicle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Social Media)
