Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The name Palestine never appears when searched on Google Maps, unlike other countries including Israel. This has become a hot debate among a number of people in the Arab region several years ago.
In a post, the owner of the Palestine International Broadcast Facebook account accused digital map platforms, namely Google Maps and Apple Maps, of erasing Palestine. This incident is related to plans by Israeli officials to annex Palestine.
“Palestine has been removed from Google Maps and Apple Maps without any official statement from either company. This action comes as Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu promises to annex the West Bank which has triggered a global crisis with many countries calling it a ‘human rights violation’,” wrote the account Palestine International Broadcast in a 2020 report.
This upload was then spread and went viral. Many netizens condemned the steps taken by Google Maps and Apple Maps.
A Google spokesperson has also spoken out about the accusations. To AFPthe tech giant said it had never made any changes to the border or the region.
According to him, Google has never used the Palestine label on its Google Maps service. Apart from that, it also provides references to news reports Engadget 2016 and newspaper reports Paris Le Monde.
Both articles quoted Google as saying there had never been a Palestine label in the company’s services.
Cornell University senior lecturer, Christine Leuenberger, explained that Palestine would never be on the digital map service. Some services contain the terms West Bank and Gaza.
“On maps, the name ‘Palestine’ is usually associated with the history of Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel and is not used in mainstream Western media,” said Christine Leuenberger.
“Usually the Palestinian territories are indicated through the depiction of dotted demarcation lines which connote disputed territory and the territories (Gaza and West Bank) remain unnamed. Alternatively, the territories are represented with dotted lines and are also labeled ‘West Bank’ and ‘West Bank’. Gaza’.”
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