Google has changed the tagline on its Palestinian edition from ‘Palestinian territories’ to ‘Palestine,’ thereby acknowledging the UN’s decision to award the region non-member observer status. Israel has already expressed displeasure with the move.
The search engine’s Palestine site, google.ps, now displays the
word “Palestine” in Arabic and English underneath Google’s
logo.
“We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to
‘Palestine’ across our products. We consult a number of sources and
authorities when naming countries. In this case, we are following
the lead of the UN...and other international organizations,”
Google spokesperson Nathan Tyler said in a statement.
The decision has been warmly accepted by the Palestinian Authority
(PA).
“This is a virtual victory for Palestine - a step in the right
direction that has to be followed by others, including Google Maps
and Google Earth,” Sabri Saidam, IT consultant to Palestinian
Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, told The Telegraph.
He added that many Palestinian villages with thousands of residents
have been erased on Google Maps and replaced with Israeli
settlements, which are considered illegal under international
law.
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor criticized
Google’s decision, saying it holds no real meaning.
“Google is not a political or diplomatic entity, so they can
call anything by any name, it has no diplomatic or political
significance,” he told the Times of Israel. He added that
“many questions can be raised by this change, regarding Google’s
policy and the meaning of all that.”
The UN General Assembly upgraded the PA from observer entity status
to non-member observer status last November. The move was met with
disapproval from Israel and the US.
Following the November victory at the UN, the PA issued letters to
Google and other global corporations, requesting that they change
their drop-down menus to include Palestine among their index of
countries.
“In most online menus you won’t find Palestine or even
Palestinian territories among the national options. Palestinian
users are still forced to choose between either Israel or
Jordan,” Saidam said. He said that he hopes Facebook, Microsoft
and other websites will follow Google’s lead.
It’s not the first time Google has made a statement regarding
international politics. During the Egyptian revolution in 2011, the
company listed three phone numbers that could be used by protesters
to make tweets through voice mails even if internet connections
were down.
The search engine also publicly criticized China in 2010 over what
it called illegal surveillance. Google shut down its Chinese
edition and said it was not possible for it to keep its services
running because in China “self-censorship (was) a non-negotiable
legal requirement.”