PayPal’s missed opportunity with Palestinians: Sam Bahour

A PayPal sign is see at the company's headquarters

Signage outside PayPal headquarters in San Jose, California is pictured on March 10, 2015. At PayPal's May 24 annual shareholders meeting, shareholders rejected a shareholder proposal that PayPal offer its services in the Palestinian territories and other conflict zones. A proponent of that proposal, Palestinian American business consultant Sam Bahour of Youngstown, who has been working in the West Bank for a number of years, argues in a guest column today that that was a mistake.Jeff Chiu | AP Photo

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EL-BIREH, West Bank -- I recently addressed the virtual PayPal annual shareholders meeting, during which I had five minutes to present a case for shareholders to pass a resolution requesting PayPal to open its services to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The resolution was titled “Provision of Services in Conflict Zones.”

I emphasized to PayPal’s shareholders that this is not a political issue. The political determination about Palestine was decided over a decade ago by the United Nations: “The State of Palestine” is today officially listed as a non-member observer state, a status exactly like the Holy See.

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