Post date: May 06, 2013 2:33:45 PM
Palestinians hail Google's "Palestine" listing as victory, but Israel is critical.
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (MAY 6, 2013) (REUTERS) - Palestinians on Monday (May 6) welcomed Google's decision to put the name "Palestine" under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories. (www.google.ps), while Israel criticized the move.
Palestinians hailed Google's move as a virtual victory on the long path to the state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in the 1967 war.With bilateral negotiations stalled for 2-1/2 years over Jewish settlement building, the Palestinians have campaigned for foreign recognition of statehood, and were upgraded to "non-member state" at the United Nations in November.
Following the U.N. lead, Google's Palestinian homepage and other products previously labelled "Palestinian Territories" were changed on May 1 to read "Palestine".
"I expect that people who are interested in tourism in Palestine, who want to arrive in Palestine, when they search for Palestine on Google they can't find it, they cannot find any information on Palestine. So this is for sure a move that helps us," said Ramallah resident Khaled Jarar.
Former Palestinian communication and technology minister and and adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, said that it "invites Palestine to the virtual map".
"This is a reaffirmation of the identity, is stresses the decisions of the international legality to bring Palestine to full geographical presence. Also, this is important to open the gates for companies, to break the barrier of fear and hesitance in this area and invites Palestine to the virtual map," Saidem said.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister spokesperson Yigal Palmor criticised the move.
"Google can do anything they want. They can do Google 'Never Never Land' if they want to and that's cool. However, one cannot but wonder why does a private internet company want to get involved in international politics and international diplomacy, which is more, to do that on the controversial side, and that remains a mystery to me at this moment but, you know, Google can do whatever they please and we're fine with that, they are cool and it doesn't carry any political, diplomatic, meaning anyway. I'm sure they will be the first to admit that," Palmor said.
A Google spokesman in Israel referred Reuters to a statement from last week in which it said: "We are following the lead of the U.N. ... and other international organizations."
Israel was furious at the U.N. upgrade last November, which was opposed by theUnited States but passed by an overwhelming majority, and reacted by withholdingPalestinian government funds and announcing more settlement building.
Google Maps currently shows little or no detail for major Palestinian towns such asNablus and Ramallah, while many Jewish West Bank settlements have streets and parks clearly labelled.