Facebook gets involved in Middle East conflict

...completely unintentionally

18 March 2008 16:25 GMT / By Katie Scott

Facebook has found itself caught in the crossfire in the Middle East. Complaints were made about the website by Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank.

Residents of Maale Adumim, Ariel and other large Jewish settlements protested after the website automatically listed them as living in Palestine.

The tech team behind Facebook have now changed the options so that Facebookers in this troubled area can now choose between putting Israel or Palestine, but not before the website was accused of having a political agenda.

"I was surprised and disappointed to find that my hometown of Ariel is listed in Facebook as being part of a country called Palestine", wrote Ari Zimmerman in a posting on Facebook. "I am a citizen of Israel, as are all of the other residents of Ariel. We do not live in Palestine, nor does anyone else."

But Palestinians are also fighting for Facebook recognition. A Facebook group has been set up called "If Palestine is removed from Facebook, I am closing my account", and already has 4700 members.

It is allegedly in response to a rival group, set up by Israeli Facebookers, with the opposite message.

Around 18 West Bank settlements are currently listed on Facebook and more are going to be added in the future, all of which will give users the option of choosing Israel or Palestine.

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Software, Online, Facebook, Websites