Facebook Leaves the Contested Golan Heights Region Up for Grabs
In response to the latest in a series of recent geopolitical controversies, Facebook has announced that members living in the Golan Heights, a politically contested region nestled between Israel and Syria, will now have a choice of defining their geographical network as either Syria or Israel. Until now, users belonging to the Katzrin (Qasrin) network were defined, per Facebook cartography, as living in Syria. After more than 2,600 users formed a group titled "Facebook, Golan residents live in Israel, not Syria," Facebook accommodated their petition with their rendition of a "two-state" solution. With its growing legion of users, Facebook has lately been forced to walk over the coals of several controversies, encompassing not only questions of politico-cultural identity, but free speech, as well. The Web site, for example, has already implemented a similarly dualistic approach to its nomenclature for The West Bank. Facebook's free-speech policy, like the social network itself, seems to be in a constant state of evolution, as the company attempts to pinpoint the moving target that is the line between free and hateful speech. Groups of Holocaust deniers were allowed to remain in existence, while several European neo-Nazi groups deemed dangerously incendiary were banned.
The popular online social networking site was, for a time, identifying Israeli settlers whose homes are in the West Bank as being residents of Palestine. The settlers disagreed and threatened to close their Facebook accounts -- plus they claimed Facebook was making a political statement. In response, Facebook decided to allow people who live in the West Bank to choose either Israel or Palestine as their home.
The Israeli government is moving us one step closer to the nightmare future envisioned in '
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