Google has been accused of deleting Palestine from Google Maps, a move blasted as a “crime” against the area’s 4.5 million residents and their right to self-determination.

But the truth is even worse: Google Maps never labeled Palestine in the first place. 

Hundreds of thousands of supporters have rallied to ask Google to put Occupied Palestine on its maps, but Google has yet to respond. In the midst of a powerful movement for Palestinian rights and sovereignty, the symbolic erasure of Palestine from Google’s influential maps is inexcusable. That’s why we’re coming together to demand Google right this wrong.

Google: add Palestine to Google Maps and recognising its sovereignty.

After noticing Google Maps didn’t label Palestinian territories, a group of Palestinian journalists called the erasure an attempt to “falsify history” and undermine “the Palestinian people’s right to their homeland.”

And while a Google spokeswoman explained that a bug had removed labels for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that Google was working on a solution, they did not announce plans to label Palestine itself.

Google erasing Palestine from its maps isn’t apolitical. It reinforces the violent occupation of Palestinian territories and the displacement of Palestinian families from their homes. Google needs to get on the right side of history and join the international community in recognising Palestine rights to having and the right not to live under occupation.

Tell Google to recognise Palestine on Google Maps.

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