Google Formally Puts Palestine On Virtual Map

hypnosec writes "Google has indirectly walked right into one of the Middle East's most obstinate conflicts by labeling Palestine as an independent nation — wiping off the term 'Palestinian Territories' and replacing it with 'Palestine' in its localized search page. Google's move is more or less in line with the UN's October decision to name Palestine as a non-member observer state. The status given to Palestine will allow the state to join UN debates as well as global bodies such as the International Criminal Court, in theory at least. Up until May 1, anyone visiting http://www.google.ps were shown the phrase Palestinian Territories. This change is definitely not a huge one but, it has attracted criticism from politicians in Israel."

Comments

Re:Imagine The Poor Guy Who Changed This

[Samantha Wright]

While it's an amusing thought, Google actually consulted the UN and is rolling out the change across all of their products. (mumble mumble rtfa)

in line with typical Google policy

[Trepidity]

Google typically defers to self-identification, even where names or status are disputed. For example, google.mk is taglined "Google Macedonia", not "Google FYROM".

Re:Imagine The Poor Guy Who Changed This

[Khashishi]

Only that the UN is in a better position to recognize a nation than pretty much any other entity.

Re:Imagine The Poor Guy Who Changed This

[cold fjord]

Since Israel's only claim to legitimacy is the U.N.'s declaration, I suppose this means no legitimate state occupies that land?

Israel is self-certifying at this point, so that is nonsense. You do know that nations existed before the UN came along too, right?

Besides that, there have been Jews there continuously for thousands of years, and several Jewish states on that land.

Re:Imagine The Poor Guy Who Changed This

[DaHat]

Since Israel's only claim to legitimacy is the U.N.'s declaration, I suppose this means no legitimate state occupies that land?

Riiiight.

Lets just ignore the fact that their claims to legitimacy pre-date the existence of the UN: The Legal Case for Israel

But why let facts and history get in the way?

Bigoted Islamophobic Crap

[Uberbah]

Did you miss the news that it took the Israeli Supreme Court to (finally) protect female Jews from being harassed or arrested at the Western Wall by the Ultra Orthodox? How about opinion surveys of Americans on how it's acceptable to drone bomb the shit out of other countries?

Beam, motes. And if you want to bitch about the problems of fundamentalist islam, start with the nearest mirror, as it's usually:

1) In response to western imperialism. Yeah, you're pissed about the 911 attacks that killed 3,000. They're kinda pissed about American sanctions that killed 500,000 children in Iraq. And your overthrowing their secular democracy in Iran to be replaced by a brutal dictatorship from the Shah.

2) Financed by client states like Saudi Arabia. You know, where the hijackers were from, but was never on our blow-shit-up list. Huh.

3) Financed and supported by the CIA. The Mujahideen in Afghanistan, rebels in Libya and now Syria, and MEK in Iraq. Then there was that triffle of "buying" the services of young boys in Afghanistan to be raped by tribal warlords.

It demonstrates conclusively that the Palestinian nationhood argument is the real strategic deception â" one geared to set up the destruction of Israel.

Bullshit. The entirety of Israel is built on land stolen from the native population. First in 1948, when a bunch of immigrants from Europe decided they had a greater claim than those who had lived there for thousands of years. And then in 1967, when they started a war of territory expansion yet claimed to be the victims.

ALL of the occupied territories ALL of the settlements and ALL of East Jerusalem are illegal.

Israel never had a claim to legitimacy.

[Uberbah]

It's built on land stolen from the native population by a bunch of immigrants.

But why let facts and history get in the way?

Will you? Jews were less than 10% of the area population in 1900. When Zionists "declared independence" they were only 31% of the population, the vast majority just off the boat or first-generation. When they started the 1967 war and illegally seized the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, they settled the stolen land with....more immigrants.

History and facts have a well known anti-Zionist bias.

Re:Israel never had a claim to legitimacy.

[Uberbah]

I see you didn't even bother to watch the video

You didn't bother to look at the link. Jews were a tiny minority in Palestine before European Jews started immigrating to the area around 1900, with a spike around WWII for obvious reasons. There is no legal or moral justification for immigrants carving a state out of the native population without the consent of said population. Period.

Like I said, history and facts have a well-known anti-Zionist bias.

Re:USA:Israel::China:BestKorea

[Uberbah]

I don't see the South electing a government with the stated goal of expelling or murdering every resident of the North, flatly stating that any and all negotiations are purely strategic moves to delay fighting when deemed necessary, that the commonly accepted "two state solution" will never be allowed to happen, or refusing to acknowledge the historical incidents predating the formation of their Northern neighbor and otherwise implicitly believing that no Northern citizen has a right to live.

Yeah, I don't like the Likud Charter either:

The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel. The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting. ...
The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.

Re:About frickin' time!

[Uberbah]

No, that would be Hamas. Their charter calls for the destruction of Israel.

And the Likud charter lays claim to the occupied territories and denies any Palestinian state. Funny how the Zionist apologists never talk about that. Or the inconvenient fact that Hamas was created by Israel to undermine Fatah.

There seems to be some defect in your understanding of genocide as the number of Palestinian Arabs has long been increasing.

There seems to be some willful obtuseness in your comment, as you're swapping out the elimination of a country with the elimination of a people.

If you're outraged about the use of chemicals against "civilians," do you have any to spare?

Depends, do you have any sense of proportion? How about when it's Israel violating the cease fire and then killing hundreds of Palestinians a la Cast Lead? How about the fact that even the IDF admits that the rockets are a psychological and not a military threat? Or the fact that an Israeli is more likely to be killed in a car accident with a bus - not car accidents overall but car accidents with buses - than by a Palestinian?

It can't last forever since one of Hamas's basic goals is to destroy Israel.

And who created Hamas again? And the Likud Charter, again?

Who Are the Real Nazis?

By the racist Jonah Goldberg? More like Who Are the Real Shitbags.

Re:USA:Israel::China:BestKorea

[Internetuser1248]

I think he was referring to the camps outside of Israel, and incidents like this.

Having said that, you are of course right that a comparison to nazi Germany is a great exaggeration. This does not make the behaviour any less reprehensible however.