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E-commerce giants won’t ship to Palestinian cities in 2022, here’s why

Political statement by Palestinian postal service backfires, as AliExpress announces it will no longer ship packages to Palestinian cities.

By World Israel News Staff

Chinese e-commerce giants AliExpress and Shein will no longer ship to Palestinian Authority-controlled cities in Judea and Samaria starting in January 2022, in response to logistical issues created by a political stunt from the Palestinian postal service.

Shoppers in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Hebron and Jericho often select “Israel” as the country to which their package should be delivered when they make online purchases from the retailers.

But because of the Palestinian Post’s refusal to handle any packages with the word “Israel” on them, the packages end up being returned to China, Channel 12 News reported.

The political decision to refuse to handle mail containing the word “Israel,” even when it is clearly intended for distribution in a PA city, has greatly inconvenienced the Chinese retailers, who have decided shipping to the PA is more trouble than it’s worth.

Palestinian shoppers received a text message from AliExpress announcing the decision, which explained that they would no longer be able to order packages to their cities after January 1, 2022.

Confusingly, the text message said “Dear customer, according to the Palestine Post announcement, starting from January 1, 2022, parcels from Israel will not be able to be delivered to Palestine.”

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However, the “Israel” referred to in the text message is referring specifically to PA-controlled cities in Judea and Samaria.

The Israel Post released a statement clarifying that packages from AliExpress and Shein would still ship to Israel.

“This is an announcement that is intended for residents of the Palestinian Authority and is related to package delivery arrangements between online trading companies abroad and the Palestinian Authority.”

Shoppers reported receiving a similar message from Chinese fashion site Shein.

According to Channel 12, PA officials are scrambling to convince the Chinese e-commerce giants to continue shipping to cities in their jurisdiction.