The Hamas Movement has strongly denounced the American e-commerce giant Amazon for providing free deliveries to illegal Israeli settlements and prodding Palestinians into listing themselves as living in Israel to obtain the same service as settlers.
“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” spokesman for Hamas Hazem Qasem stated in a press release on Saturday.
“Such decision by Amazon is inconsistent with the UN resolutions that criminalize settlements and the companies that deal with them” spokesman Qasem added.
Although Amazon offers free deliveries to Israeli settlements in the West Bank it charges customers in neighboring Palestinian communities for its services — unless they select their address as being in Israel according to a Financial Times report.
Amazon confirmed the claims which rights activists slammed as discrimination saying the policy was legitimizing the settlements and urging Palestinians to list themselves as living in Israel.
Free shipping to Israel for orders over $49 was launched by Amazon in last November.
Palestinians who select their address as being in the “Palestinian Territories” when placing orders can expect to pay $24 or more.
