Both sides fight Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the Internet

Alongside the battles raging in southern Israel, another war is being fought - a virtual one, over the Internet. Israeli and Palestinian propagandas disseminators have learned to make good use of Internet tools such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Volunteers work alongside official public-relations entities, presenting their own positions and reporting from the field.

Another battle front is the face-off between pro-Palestinian and Israeli hackers, with both sides seeking to inflict damage to the official Web sites of their respective enemy.

One of the main tools used in the unofficial public relations campaign is Twitter, a service that allows surfers to write short updates - usually limited to 140 characters, which others can receive in a variety of ways, including by cellular telephone.

Chats among surfers - denunciators or supporters - from all over the world are conducted at a dizzying pace updated in real-time.

Israel's Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York, David Saranga, has even gone so far as to conduct a press conference via Twitter. Despite its innovation, the press conference drew some criticism. The New York Times, for instance, reported MSNBC newscaster Rachel Maddow as commenting sardonically on what she described as the Israeli government's attempt to explain, in 140 characters, a conflict on which entire books have been written and reporters struggle to describe in 2,000 words.

The Palestinian side is also making use of Twitter's advantages. Among other things, Palestinians operate an account on Twitter named GazaNews, which submits reports from the field and directs users to Palestinian propaganda and anti-Israel video clips.

Hacking for morale

A few thousand Israeli Web sites have been hacked from a variety of countries including Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey since the operation began in Gaza. The Labor Party's Web site and Debka are among the many Web sites hacked so far.

Nor have Israelis remained idle. A variety of campaigns have been launched. One of these is presented on the Web site win-israel-help, which enables surfers to download a file dedicated to creating heavy traffic on Hamas Web sites - forcing them to shut down.

"Most of the hacking is done by children," says Kfir Tuito of ComSecure, importers of the anti-virus NOD32. "They are trying to choke up the system, which is hard to do on large Web sites. There are also groups of professional hackers who try to break into databases and destroy them - and then the damage is more severe. They mainly try to break into news services, banks or government Web sites."

Tuito's assessment is that hacker attacks will only increase. "The aim will be harassment, a battle for morale."

Counting rocket attacks on Facebook

The popular social network service Facebook is an excellent place to learn about the mood of Israeli surfers. Every day new groups consolidate, calling for action in support of or against the IDF's operations in Gaza. There is even an application called the "Qassam counter," in which surfers can use their "status" line to indicate when a rocket lands in Israel. At the same time, normal user activity continues to be conducted, where surfers hold discussions and post pictures, links to articles and invitations to activities such as demonstrations.

50,000 web commenters

Giyus.org offers surfers a program that makes it easy for them to support Israeli on the Internet. The software tool called Megaphone offers users a desktop warning when articles or reviews about Israel are published on the Internet. Users can chose to view the article and post an Israel-supportive response.

The Foreign Ministry, which works in cooperation with the not-for-profit organization, says that some 50,000 surfers have already downloaded the software. The Foreign Ministry has also recently asked Israeli surfers and bloggers to send it material for distribution.