People are demanding Google adds Palestine to the map

Palestine isn't on Google's map, and it never has been, but the issue has come to the fore again this week.

The company's decision to leave the state off Google Maps has long been a bone of contention for many people. Indeed, a petition calling on the internet giant to change its thinking was launched five months ago and has since received over 273,000 signatures.

However, the debate roared again at an Aug. 3 forum of Palestinian journalists with the release of a statement condemning the company for the "crime" of "deleting Palestine."

The journalists were wrong in thinking that Palestine had been "deleted" -- the truth is a bug had accidentally removed "Gaza Strip" and "West Bank" according to Google. But the statement has raised the issue on social media.

#PalestineIsHere has been the clarion call of choice as people across Twitter demand Google make some changes to its map.

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Many countries across the world recognize Palestine as an independent state, including 136 members of the United Nations. The U.S., UK and much of western Europe are among those that don't.

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The petition calling on Google to make changes says that: "The omission of Palestine is a grievous insult to the people of Palestine and undermines the efforts of the millions of people who are involved in the campaign to secure Palestinian independence and freedom from Israeli occupation and oppression."

"Whether intentionally or otherwise, Google is making itself complicit in the Israeli government's ethnic cleansing of Palestine."

Here's Google's take on the issue, emailed to Mashable:

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.

As background, our basemap data, which includes information like place names, borders, and road networks, comes from a combination of third-party providers and public sources. While this helps us provide a comprehensive map, it also means that the amount of data we have varies from place to place and you can see this reflected in our maps. If there are data sources that we’re unaware of, we’d be happy to take a look and see if they’re of sufficient quality to bring to the map.

The company has navigated treacherous geopolitical waters before.

The website Disputed Territories says that Google Maps' dotted line separating Russia and the Crimea indicates it's following the U.S. view that land is occupied while Russia considers it annexed. Bhutan's border with China and the region of Kashmir are just a few other examples the site gives, demonstrating how hard it is to stay politically neutral while striving for accurate mapping.