A repeated controversy has hit the social media, with several users denouncing Google for’Removing Palestine from their Map,’ Various users throughout social media platforms suddenly noticed that the country was missing from Google Maps.
Palestine, the abode of the Holy city of Jerusalem, claimed by Muslims, Christians and Jews has been rife with its border disputes: it has had annexation, military occupations, it has had its territories being encroached, intifadas, and along with it had displacement, dispute and death of its people.
The Kashmiriyat also tried finding out Palestine on Google Maps, it points you to an approximate location – though, with no markers. Also, if you try to find distance from a point to Palestine, it shows, “No results found for Palestine.” Though Google has marked the city of Jerusalem is marked and evidently Google has classified Palestine as a part of Israel.
This is not for the first time, that the controversy has arouse, in 2016 too, Google Maps was accused of ‘deleting Palestine off the Maps.’ Back then, attention was brought to the issue after the forum of Palestinian journalists released a statement condemning Google.
A Google spokeswoman told the Guardian in 2016 that “There has never been a ‘Palestine’ label on Google Maps, however we discovered a bug that removed the labels for ‘West Bank’ and ‘Gaza Strip’. We’re working quickly to bring these labels back to the area.”