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The Kiryat Yam shoreline (Doron Golan / Jini)
Last update - 08:55 13/02/2008
Israeli town sues Google over claim it was built on Arab village
By The Associated Press
Tags: Kiryat Yam, Google, slander 

The northern town of Kiryat Yam is suing Internet giant Google for slander, a local official said Monday, because a feature of its worldwide map service shows the town was built on the ruins of an Arab village.

The dispute brings together two controversies, one old and one new. Officials from the town deny they displaced Arabs during the War of Independence, and Google is defending the practice of allowing any surfer to change information in its files.

Kiryat Yam is a town of 40,000 on the Mediterranean coast just north of the port of Haifa. An entry on Google Earth, a feature that allows users to zero in on locations around the world, alleges that the town was built on the ruins of Ghawarina, an Arab village.
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Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled or were expelled during the 1948-49 war. Pushing back invading Arab armies, the forces from the new Jewish state also overran Arab villages, destroying dozens.

Kiryat Yam was pulled into the dispute when a Google Earth user, Thameen Darby, inserted a note on the map saying it was built on the location of Ghawarina. Darby has inserted at least 10 such notes over Google's map of Israel.

"Kiryat Yam filed a slander complaint with Israel's police," said town official Naty Keyzilberman. "This obviously cannot be true, because Kiryat Yam was founded in 1945, he said, explaining the police complaint."

Darby, 30, a Palestinian doctor raised in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, said his mother was a refugee from to the village Balad al-Sheikh near Kiryat Yam. He said his contributions to Google Earth are part of the Nakhba - Palestinian Catastrophe information hub aimed to help displaced Palestinians understand their heritage or find the villages of their parents or grandparents.

"As far as I can know, the Arab Ghawarina locality was in the place depicted," Darby told The Associated Press. He noted that he may have not marked the exact location and "if proven wrong by reliable sources, I will be quick to reallocate it."

Darby's Web site pinpoints Ghawarina on the site of Kiryat Yam, but another places it south of Haifa at the site of a present-day Arab town, Jisr el-Zarka.

Above Kiryat Yam, Darby wrote, this is one of the Palestinian localities
evacuated and destroyed after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Asked to respond to the police complaint, a Google spokesman said Google Earth depends on user-generated content that reflects what people contribute, not what Google believes is accurate. The spokesman would not give his name, in keeping with company policy.

The spokesman insisted that the altered map is not illegal, and Google's
policy is not to remove such postings.

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      1.   Guilty? 20:38  |  Steve Beikirch 11/02/08
      2.   How about Arab occupation of Shechem? 20:47  |  David 11/02/08
      3.   Malls, discos and apartments over Jewish cemeteries 20:51  |  Judith 11/02/08
      4.   Google 20:52  |  Paul 11/02/08
      5.   funny thing about slander .... 20:55  |  bingbong 11/02/08
      6.   Let us all do the same- add more, history is quite revealing 20:58  |  Jo 11/02/08
      7.   No Apologies 21:00  |  Fish 11/02/08
      8.   to dacid #2 21:04  |  tom 11/02/08
      9.   Google responses 2+3 21:07  |  Edward 11/02/08
      10.   the zionist entity is all stolen anyway 21:13  |  Assad-u-LLAH 11/02/08
      11.   Manahatten was build on ruins of Indian village 21:14  |  Simon 11/02/08
      12.   why not also sue the person who abuses Google misguided policy ? 21:26  |  mike 11/02/08
      13.   #3 Judaith? no actually not but we all remember the tolerance mus 21:27  |  11/02/08
      14.   sue google 21:36  |  Malcolm 11/02/08
      15.   Every Jewish town and village in Israel was 21:37  |  Dany 11/02/08
      16.   to Kiriat Yam residents 21:42  |  Leila 11/02/08
      17.   Everyone should post blatantly false info all over google earth 21:43  |  McQueen 11/02/08
      18.   Kiryat Yam hits the news...Google fires back. 21:46  |  Stephen. 11/02/08
      19.   Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. 21:56  |  Moshe Dayan 11/02/08
      20.   Phantom towns sprouting up.... 22:01  |  Avi 11/02/08
      21.   kiriat yam = ghawarina 22:04  |  northern wind 11/02/08
      22.   Dany the ignorant 9 22:05  |  Free Gilad Shalit 11/02/08
      23.   Re: How about Arab occupation of Shechem? 22:08  |  johnabdl 11/02/08
      24.   Better to be a theft than a murderer - Assadullah#8 22:08  |  William 11/02/08
      25.   Moshe Dayan - It is all true 22:12  |  Fish 11/02/08
      26.   northern wind - dream on 22:14  |  Fish 11/02/08
      27.   How is it that.........? 22:17  |  Free Gilad Shalit 11/02/08
      28.   Clear-cut libel; all data shows Kiryat Yam was founded in 1945. 22:31  |  Dr. L. Brnd 11/02/08
      29.   #19 - Hey Moshe.... 22:37  |  JES 11/02/08
      30.   @northern wind 22:41  |  yossi 11/02/08
      31.   If kassam terrorism persists, Google can add these map notes - 22:50  |  Dr. L. Brnd 11/02/08
      32.   Time to pay up 23:05  |  John Bull 11/02/08
      33.   Does Google say that.... 23:06  |  leo 11/02/08
      34.   israel probably built over yes 23:06  |  after expelling pals 11/02/08
      35.   10 23:13  |  zionist forever 11/02/08
      36.   excuse us for winning-- 23:16  |  sam 11/02/08
      37.   to Moshe Dayan 23:20  |  yuval 11/02/08
      38.   The entire Israel was built on Arab stolen land!!! 23:23  |  Moise 11/02/08
      39.   David #2 23:36  |  kamal 11/02/08
      40.   arabs need to learn about the future instead of fighting for past 23:37  |  zionist forever 11/02/08
      41.   Who Cares About Arab Invaders? 23:43  |  Steve 11/02/08
      42.   ALASSAD IS PERFECT PROOF OF HATE EDUCATION 23:44  |  TOBIA 11/02/08
      43.   Judith, #3 23:50  |  Maki 11/02/08
      44.   What was taken by force `ll be recuperated by force!! 23:53  |  Moise 11/02/08
      45.   Without Apology , the Jewish State Must Deport Arabs 23:58  |  Joseph . E 11/02/08
      46.   No one`s suing about Native American villages 23:59  |  Jeff 11/02/08
      47.   So what? 00:01  |  Joseph 12/02/08
      48.   sue them in the U.S., not in israel 00:01  |  david 12/02/08
      49.   they`re back.... 00:19  |  PAL 12/02/08
      50.   #15 = moron 00:20  |  david 12/02/08
      51.   Protest too loudly 00:21  |  Jack Olson 12/02/08
      52.   the truth will set you free 00:23  |  Bill 12/02/08
      53.   More Palestinian Myths? 00:24  |  History 12/02/08
      54.   Take it to court - tell Palestine`s history. 00:37  |  Maureen Ann 12/02/08
      55.   To learn more 00:47  |  John Smith 12/02/08
      56.   THIS IS JUST ONE TOWN, there are many more 00:54  |  VIPER 12/02/08
      57.   I lived 25 years in Kiryat yam and never seen 01:00  |  Yosi 12/02/08
      58.   To # 10 01:02  |  Yosi 12/02/08
      59.   I suggest Israel sues Google 01:12  |  Axel 12/02/08
      60.   yossi, 25 years in kityat yam 01:24  |  yuval 12/02/08
      61.   Axel BORDERS??? 01:28  |  yuval 12/02/08
      62.   Who gives a rats,it is in Israel now and that is that. 01:29  |  Jose ExMarrano 12/02/08
      63.   Jerusalem, Hebron to name but a few 01:48  |  zionist forever 12/02/08
      64.   The Jewish people are the true refugees of Israel!! 01:55  |  We are here to stay 12/02/08
      65.   If it is a mistake then it needs correcting 02:10  |  Johnboy 12/02/08
      66.   #58 yosi the beligerant? second passport up to date? 02:19  |  Assad-u-LLAH 12/02/08
      67.   #56 VIPER? more villages from al nakba 02:24  |  Assad-u-LLAH 12/02/08
      68.   what about? 02:24  |  B. 12/02/08
      69.   Google should consult Dr.Abu Sitta leading expert on the Nakba. 02:42  |  lakshmi 12/02/08
      70.   think about what you are saying.. 02:54  |  sam 12/02/08
      71.   64. here to stay? can you prove that? 03:03  |