Many people started complaining that Palestine has disappeared from Google Maps and Apple Maps with no official statement from both companies.
Anyone searching for the country Palestine on both maps would be brought to an approximate location at a geographical boundary labelled only as Israel, and no markers.
A thin, grey line marks boundaries of a disputed, occupied region - but nowhere does the country have a name.
The holy city of Jerusalem is marked, but it appears almost like Google and Apple have classified Palestine as a part of Israel - with no identity of its own.
And here, with Google and Apple providing no label recognizing the state, online protests were triggered.
Social media users have accused both Apple and Google of erasing Palestine, the partially recognized state and neighbor of Israel.
As a result of this, the hashtag #FreePalestine has again trended on Twitter.
Internet users have also expressed their outrage, calling the move "disrespectful".
They started voicing their concern about the Middle-Eastern country's absence, and demanded the two to 'put it back' on their respective maps,
Thousand of internet users are not only posting screenshots of both smartphone applications that are not showing any results to ‘Palestine’ but are also expressing their frustration with the move while also tagging the company’s accounts and demanding answers.
The issue has sparked concern primarily from supporters of Palestine.
The incident quickly ignited the long-lasting conflict, with advocates for the two-state solution weary of potential advances from Israel.
Besides protests on social media networks, some have again started petitions on Change.org to ask Google and Apple to include Palestine on their respective maps.
“The omission of Palestine is a grievous insult to the people of Palestine and undermines the efforts of the millions of people who are involved in the campaign to secure Palestinian independence and freedom from Israeli occupation and oppression,” one of the petition said.
The petition also ask Google to “clearly designate and identify the Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel.”
This is not the first time an issue like this happened, and it has drawn controversy in the past.
Palestine, where part of the holy city of Jerusalem is located, has been rife with its border disputes: it has had annexation, it has had military occupations, it has had its territories being encroached, dispute and many more.
The incident apparently came while Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to establish West Bank annexations that have already triggered global criticism with many countries calling it ‘human rights violation’.
Israel has long contested the status of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, both recognized as Palestinian territories.
The years-long Israel-Palestine conflict has been further spiraling since Netanyahu’s government is appearing to not lose any time moving forward with the plans to considerably weaken the Palestinian Authority.
And this move by Netanyahu has the potential to dismantle any hopes of a Palestinian state.
