John,
PayPal, one of most popular money transfer services in the world, is shamelessly discriminating against Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem – for being Palestinian.1
PayPal allows Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank – settlements that are blatant violations of international human rights law – to access its full range of services, while Palestinians living just a few miles away in neighboring villages and cities have absolutely no access to PayPal services.
Add your name to the petition demanding PayPal stop discriminating against Palestinians.
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While PayPal gives Israelis full access to the platform, no matter where they are, the company refuses to allow Palestinian bank account holders – i.e. the majority of Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem – to sign up for PayPal.
The impacts of this policy cut deep. Many clients won’t work with local Palestinian businesses if they can’t take payment through PayPal, leading to untold lost opportunities.2 And 7amleh, a Palestinian digital rights organization, estimates that over 42,000 Palestinian university graduates each year are denied the ability to seek employment online because so many employers require PayPal accounts to process employee wages.3
Tell PayPal: It’s the 21st century. You can’t use race and national identity to deny an entire group of people access to your services.
This is a fight we can win. Apple Pay recently made its services available to Palestinians,4 and last year a Palestinian monetary agency indicated that growing international pressure could soon force PayPal to flip the switch as well.5 Building the number of signatures on this petition is the most important step we can take right now to send PayPal a clear message: end your policy of discrimination immediately. We’re not backing down until this critical service becomes accessible to all Palestinians everywhere.
Together,
Leila and the Team at Fight
Footnotes:
1. EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/10/why-paypal-denying-service-palestinians
2. 7amleh: https://7amleh.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Palestine-PayPal-English.pdf
3. 7amleh: https://paypal.7amleh.org/
4. 7amleh: https://paypal.7amleh.org/
5. Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinians-urge-paypal-offer-services-west-bank-gaza-2021-10-21/
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