SAN FRANCISCO: Google has officially changed "Palestinian Territories" to "Palestine" on its Google country homepage in what many activists see as a positive step toward the official global recognition of Palestine as a state. "We have fought so long and Google is a very important aspect of any discussion on the Internet that it is really a vital move toward changing perceptions of what Israel and Palestine are," said Palestinian web designer in Silicon Valley Hassan. He told Bikyanews.com that "I heard people were talking a lot at Google about changing it." The change came into force on May 1 and users of Google.ps will now see the word "Palestine" in both Arabic and English under Google's logo. Some see the move as controversial, especially after the United States refused to recognize a Palestine state last November when the Palestinian Authority went to the United Nations to push for recognition, which it got. Pro-Israel supporters have also lashed out, saying that the Internet giant's push to acknowledge Palestine will have negative effects. The UN vote gave Palestine strong international backing, despite the objections of Israel and the United States, which voted against the change. Google's decision to recognize Palestine is a small but important victory for advocates of Palestinian statehood. Google spokesman Nathan Tyler told the BBC on Friday that the company was changing ‘Palestinian Territories' to ‘Palestine' across the brand's products. "We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries," Tyler told the BBC. "In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organization for Standardization] and other international organizations." BN
