RAMALLAH            -           Palestine on Wednesday sent a letter to e-commerce giant Amazon company in protest against its discriminatory shipping policy favoring residents in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The letter, signed by both Palestinian Minister of Finance ShukryBishara and Minister of Economy Khaled al-Oseily, called on Amazon to retract its shipping policy towards the West Bank. “We were astonished to learn of Amazon’s policy of offering free shipping to costumers in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and in Israel, while charging Palestinians shipment fees of as much as 24 U.S. dollars,” said the letter. The letter noted that Amazon’s spokesperson confirmed the policy and said that the company would provide free shipping if the customers would list Israel as their country. “It is unacceptable for Amazon to flaunt international law and policy in this way,” the letter added. In November, Amazon began providing free shipping service to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for orders of 49 U.S. dollars or more. However, Palestinians in the West Bank, who put their addresses in the list of Palestinian territories, need to pay for shipment. Israeli settlement activity is considered illegal under international law and has been one of the major hurdles to the stalled peace talks between Palestine and Israel since 2014.