Apple and Google Maps have become the primary cartographic imagination of the world. Two billion people navigate through them, trust them, defer to them. When Apple Maps displays no village names across Lebanon, not only in the south facing Israeli invasion but nationwide, while nearby Israeli and Syrian localities remain clearly labelled, only a handful of larger cities remain: Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and a small number of others. Everywhere else, the map went completely blank. Which raises the question: is this the next phase of the ground invasion, even amidst a ceasefire? Who made that choice of rendering the Lebanese villages invisible, when, and on what basis?

On Google Maps, Israeli settlements in the West Bank appear as though located inside Israel. Palestinian villages unrecognised by Israel are either misrepresented or left out entirely.

On Google Maps, Israeli settlements in the West Bank appear as though located inside Israel. Palestinian villages unrecognised by Israel are either misrepresented or left out entirely.

Even relatively small Jewish-Israeli communities appear at a glance, while Palestinian villages become visible only when zoomed in almost intentionally closely. According to “Mapping Segregation,” a 2018 report by 7amleh, the Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media, Google Maps does not recognise Palestine, with the browser navigating instead to an unlabelled area, and its entire user experience ignoring the reality of the Israeli occupation of that area. A Bedouin community that have existed before the creation of the colonial state is marked by tribal designation rather than its name. The heritage disappears alongside the geography.

The prototype of Israeli colonial instruments

By now, it is clear that whatever the Israeli occupation does in Palestine functions as a test run. A way of seeing how far it can push, with neighbouring countries either completely silent or offering, at best, words of condemnation. This act of live erasure on the digital footprint carries far more........

© Middle East Monitor