AMMAN — Eleven members of the US Congress have
demanded PayPal end
a ban on doing business with Palestinians in the occupied territories while
permitting Israeli settlers to use the digital payment platform, the Guardian
reported.
اضافة اعلان
The letter, authored by Representative Mark Pocan,
said PayPal is
discriminating against Palestinians by denying “equal access to the digital
economy”.
“We have significant concerns that, because PayPal does provide
services to Israeli citizens in illegal settlements across the West Bank, but
does not provide services to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza,
PayPal’s current operating status may be infringing upon the rights of
Palestinians,” the letter said.
“As one of the world’s most recognized payment platforms,
PayPal has a responsibility to ensure its services and operations are provided
in a non-discriminatory manner.”
The letter was sent to PayPal’s CEO, Dan Schulman, ahead of
the company’s annual stockholder meeting on Wednesday. It was also signed by
Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Betty McCollum, Rashida Tlaib and Greg Casar,
among others.
No explanation
PayPal has not explained publicly why it has singled out
residents of the Palestinian
territories, only saying it regards the area as “high risk”, when other
financial service providers, including Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay, operate
in the West Bank and Gaza without issue, the Guardian reported.
The payment platform operates in other areas of conflict,
including Yemen and Somalia.
Palestinian business owners have
likened the PayPal ban to Israeli checkpoints that control movement,
saying it stifles economic development because so many other platforms use the
payment service, such as eBay.
The socially responsible investment firm Harrington
Investments, founded by John Harrington, who was at the forefront of pushing US
corporate divestment from apartheid South Africa, has put forward a proposal at
PayPal’s shareholder meeting that would see the payment platform’s board
“establish a policy that ensures that people in conflict zones, such as in
Palestine, do not suffer discriminatory exclusion from the company’s financial
services”.
The proposal says that if PayPal does not wish to implement
the policy then it should “provide an evaluation of the economic impact the
policy of exclusion has on the affected populations as well as the company’s
finances, operations and reputation”.
PayPal has urged shareholders to vote against the proposal.
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