By: Tahani Shehada
Calling to boycott the American company Amazon, the Action for Palestine team from the besieged Gaza Strip launched a Twitter Storm on Monday, March 2nd, 2020, as Amazon company legalized the Israeli occupation by free shipping to the 'Israeli settlements'.
It is no secret that amazon's policy constitutes “blatant discrimination between potential customers on the basis of their nationality.”
E-commerce giant Amazon has been accused of discrimination towards Palestinians by only offering free shipping in the West Bank to Israeli settlements, the Financial Times reported.
This racism prompted a group of Palestinian activists Action for Palestine team to launch a campaign calling on people to boycott Amazon.
The purpose of this campaign is to expose Israel's hideous face to the whole world, and everyone who conspires and participates in its crimes.
It was November 11 last year, the very day Amazon announced free shipping to 'Israeli settlements', while if any Palestinian wanted to place an order on Amazon, they’re expected to pay 24$ or more for shipping fees.
Following the Palestinians' pressure and the Twitter Storm launched by Action for Palestine Team, the American e-commerce giant Amazon will now be delivering items to customers in the occupied Palestinian territories for free.
Aseel Safi, one of the Action for Palestine team, said”because we refuse all forms of discrimination and racism, we launched this Twitter storm asking the world to boycott Amazon, and we succeeded.”
“A friend of mine sent me a message telling me that he will never use Amazon again, because of its discrimination policy,” she added.
Bahaa Shammala, a participant in the Twitter Storm, said that hundreds of activists around the world participated in the campaign, using the hashtags #BoycottAmazon and #Act4Palestine.
“After two hours of hard work on twitter to raise our voice, we achieved our goal and our hashtags became a trend on Twitter for 2 days,” he added.
Said Shoiab, the manager of Social Media in Days Of Palestine and Action for Palestine team, said,” we highly appreciate the efforts of all those who participated in the blessed campaign; we achieved a great victory and we deserve it.”
Reem Al-Haddad, a participant in Action for Palestine team, believes that she, as a Palestinian youth, can be a powerful agent for change in Palestine. She is working with other Palestinian youths to build an independent Palestinian state by raising awareness about the bad reality under the Israeli occupation. She aims for the highest, and aspires to a bright future.
She added, “ I call all people to support Palestinian youths. This will strengthen the Palestinians as they seek their independence and put Palestinians on the right track towards achieving their goals. Fully engaged, well-educated, healthy, and productive young people will help bring dignity and peace to this land and change the unbearable reality into a brighter future."
Gaza-based author and activist Rana Shubair commented on the issue, “I believe in the power of the young people like those who launched the Twitter campaigns. They have proved that rejecting racism and standing up for their rights and freedoms can reap the rewards. Just two days after the campaigns, Amazon quickly retracted its decision and canceled the fees it had imposed earlier.”
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements since Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.
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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