A group of Israelis persuaded Facebook to list their West Bank hometowns as Israel rather than “Palestine.”
Residents of Ariel, Maale Adumim and other large West Bank settlements, angered when Facebook switched their country of residence to “Palestine,” lodged protests with the social networking Web site. They noted that they are citizens of Israel and no Palestinian state exists.
Facebook informed Reuters this week that it would allow users who live in major settlements to list their countries as Israel.
In response, a group of pro-Palestinian Facebook users threatened to cancel their accounts if the “Palestine” rubric is removed.
Palestinians want to found a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Israeli government has made clear it plans to annex major West Bank settlement blocs under any future peace deal with the Palestinian Authority.
