Israel Matzav

Google Street View comes to Kiryat Arba (a Jewish town in Judea)

After photographing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, Google Street View has moved on to... Judea and Samaria, starting with Kiryat Arba, a Jewish-only town which is just outside of Hebron.

Chairman of the Kiryat Arba local council Malachi Levinger commented: "The introduction of Google Street View in Kiryat Arba indicates the strengthening of international legitimacy for the communities of Judea and Samaria."

I wish it did. Unfortunately, it is far more likely that the pictures will be used by terrorists to map out the town (and other towns) for terror attacks (God forbid), and that when the pictures are updated (as they are from time to time) they will be used by the 'international community' to monitor 'settlement activity.'

Google Street View was launched in Israel last April. Users can use the photographs to see what a particular location looks like, as if they were actually standing at that spot. The process takes a few weeks for photographing and a few months to seamlessly “sew” the pictures together to create a continuous panorama in all directions.

Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa were the first three cities to be mapped out using the new technology. Afterwards, Google Maps expanded to include smaller cities, as well as a concerted effort to map holy sites, archeological sites, historical sites and natural wonders such as the Kinneret and Maktesh Ramon.

It appears Kiryat Arba was next on the list, after speculation that Google cars have been spotted in other West Bank settlements as well.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Google Street View, Judea and Samaria

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:17 PM