Tag: PALESTINE

Earlier this week, Facebook pulled a controversial page calling for a Third Palestinian Intifada after facing intense pressure and criticism from Israeli politicians and organizations like the Anti-Defamation League. When it eventually decided to remove the page, the social network explained the decision by pointing out that comments on the page had "deteriorated to direct calls for violence," ...

Retreating from its previous stance, Facebook yesterday announced that it had pulled a page calling for a Third Palestinian Intifada. Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein wrote Mark Zuckerberg last week to request that the page be shuttered, but Facebook initially refused to do so; the company claimed that there was nothing overtly violent about the page, which was established as a call for ...

The Palestinian Authority has arrested a 26-year-old West Bank blogger for calling himself "God" on Facebook. The suspect, Walid Husayin, works as a barber in the conservative town of Qalqilya, where the locals describe him as a devout family man. When he surfs the Web, though, Husayin apparently takes on an entirely different persona. As the AP reports, Husayin is now facing a sentence of ...

On Monday, newspapers in Israel ran a series of photographs, featuring an Israeli soldier posing childishly next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners. The photos, which were taken by former Israeli soldier Eden Abergil in 2008, were posted on her Facebook page in an album titled 'Army -- the best period of my life.' Once the pics were discovered and published, Abergil soon found ...

Last week, Facebook accidentally deleted Sarah Palin's rant at/plea to Muslims (depending on your side of the fence) to oppose the construction of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque. On Sunday, a group called The Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet tried to make a Facebook fan page for its supporters, but wasn't allowed because a glitch in the system blocked the world "Palestinian" from page titles. ...

To most people, the Israeli blockade of ships entering Gaza doesn't exactly sound like game material. But one Israel-based, non-profit organization has seized upon the ongoing crisis to create an online game in the hopes of highlighting what they perceive as misguided Israeli policy. The game, called 'Safe Passage,' was created by Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, a multi-religious ...

During 2009's Iranian protests, viral technology suddenly found itself center stage of the global political theater, thanks to both Twitter, and, perhaps more importantly, some powerful video footage that resonated with international audiences. Now, nearly a year after the world was exposed to the gruesome clip of Neda Agha-Soltan's brutal murder in Iran, the moving image is at the forefront of ...

In what is likely the world's first such occurrence, a street in the Askar refugee camp in the West Bank has been named after a Twitter account. @arjanelfassed tweetstreet was named for @arjanelfassed, the Twitter account of Arjan El Fassed, who named the street through Dutch Web site Jouw Eigen Straatnam. The site sells the right to temporarily name one of 200 streets in the camp for $146, ...

Can there be virtual border disputes and rival claims to a country even online? Apparently so, as Facebook found itself being criticized by both Palestinian and Israeli members who live in the West Bank. 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 ...

The Palestinians may be struggling for many things, but one thing they definitely have are cell phone networks. Or at least they will. Currently, Palestinians have one cell phone network, but the Associated Press is reporting that the Israeli government plans to announce its plans to allow the Palestinians to build a second cell phone network to meet increasing demand. The Palestinian Authority ...