Google 'Palestine'
The home page above is what you now get when you open Google in the '
Palestinian Authority.'
“We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian territories’ to ‘Palestine’
across our products,” Google spokesman Nathan Tyler told the BBC on Friday. “We
consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries. In this case,
we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organization for
Standardization] and other international organizations.”
“This is a step
in the right direction, a timely step and one that encourages others to join in
and give the right definition and name for Palestine instead of Palestinian
territories,” Dr. Sabri Saidam, adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, told the
BBC.
Israel received the news less warmly.
“This change raises
questions about the reasons behind this surprising involvement of what is
basically a private Internet company in international politics and on the
controversial side,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Google, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome
2 Comments:
How about "Palestine County"?
There's another way to look at decision, not as a statement about Israel or Palestine but about the nature of law. See Fair Observer's "Google Palestine or Larry Page's Sociological Jurisprudence."
Being in a period of transition and "democratic yearning" could explain why Google's approach (if not decision) is so palatable to the 21st century mind.
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