WordPress recognizes the occupation of Palestine

Update: Information regarding the Israeli military’s website being hosted on WordPress has been corrected. Special thanks to b.p.

This past week, WordPress introduced “Palestinian Territory, Occupied” to its “Views by Country” stats counter. In the past, clicks from within Palestine were recorded as views coming from Israel.

What appears to be one of WordPress’s latest improvements is long overdue. For special-interest blogs that cater to large audiences in occupied Palestine, distinguishing Palestine-based viewership from Israel-based viewership has been an impossible task up until now.

Also interesting is WordPress’s choice of words. Using “Palestinian Territory, Occupied” rather than “Palestine” is significant for two main reasons. First, it recognizes the occupation. Second, “Territory” is in its singular form as opposed to the plural form which is much more common (i.e. “Palestinian Territories”). Could this be an implicit way of recognizing Palestine as a single entity rather than as a collection of scattered territories following the pro-occupation rhetoric that depends so heavily on the divide-and-conquer strategy?

Though this change is, by all means, welcome, there are some things that aren’t entirely clear. For one thing, I can’t accurately determine the exact date WordPress introduced the update. I have only been able to ascertain that “Palestinian Territory, Occupied” was added some time within the last seven days.

More importantly, what do the views from Jewish settlements in the West Bank list under? And what about, say, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem? Will her views tally under “Palestinian Territory, Occupied” or “Israel”?

Lastly, why now?

It is worth mentioning that the official blog for the Israeli military was hosted by WordPress until earlier this year.

Sami Kishawi