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| Palestinians demand PayPal services |
Palestinian activists have accused PayPal of discriminating against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip by linking their bank accounts to its digital payment platform.
PayPal did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment on the accusations and demands for Palestinian access to its services as part of a campaign launched by Palestinian digital rights group 7amleh this month.
Local entrepreneurs said that after foreign customers learned they could not use PayPal to send money transfers, they lost their chance to offer a service that payment giants provide to Israeli bank account holders, including settlers from the West Bank.
The website's designer, Rafik Al-Hamwi, said: Since the service is not available in Palestine, it serves as another checkpoint preventing us from moving around. This refers to the checkpoint in the West Bank that Israel occupied during the 1967 war.
After a potential client in Australia requested payment by PayPal, Al-Hamwi lost a contract to design a website. He said: Not all means of isolating people from the world are materialistic.
Although Palestinians can use other methods to raise money abroad, such as Apple Pay and the global cross-border payments system SWIFT, according to the campaign organization, PayPal is the world's leading e-commerce payment processor.
The organization said in a report: Palestinians still lack access to the financial markets necessary to improve their economic conditions without the freedom to use PayPal.
It is not clear why the company is not prepared to provide services to Palestinians who have bank accounts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This can be an obvious way for the company to support economic development and equality for Palestinians.
PayPal accused of discrimination against Palestinians
Credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard operate. and money transfer companies such as Western Union. The Palestinian Monetary Authority has monitored the West Bank and Gaza Strip for many years.
The Palestine Monetary Authority is part of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank. At the same time, the Islamist movement Hamas - considered a terrorist organization in the West - was ruling tiny Gaza.
The Palestinian Monetary Authority announced that it will take measures to prevent fraud and money laundering in online payments.
This includes implementing recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force, a global financial crime watchdog.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Monetary Authority indicated that Palestinians will be able to use PayPal's services in the near future.
He said: We are confident that there may be more news about PayPal services in Palestine in the coming weeks. This is the result of our cooperation with interested international parties.
The unemployment rate in the West Bank is just under 17% and the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip is just under 48%. Many Palestinians have turned to online freelancers or started local digital ventures to generate income.
The website sook.ps is the founder of such a company and claims to rely on cash on delivery because local electronic payment methods are very expensive.