Waze Didn't Recognize Israeli Settlements
The Claim
The "Waze" application recognizes Israeli settlements after removing warning notices for Jordan Valley settlements.
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Emerging story
On February 25, 2012, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that the “Waze” mobile application removed the notice notifying Israeli drivers of entering “Area C” when driving in Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley.
Claims were circulating across the MENA region.
The newspaper also referred to the thankful comments of settlers in the Jordan Valley after removing the notice, which they considered to be recognizing the Jordan Valley as part of Israel, and the chairman of the Jordan Valley Settlement Council sent a thanks letter to the director of "Waze".
The term “Area C” is used to describe one of the West Bank areas per the ”Oslo Accords," which constitutes about 60% of the West Bank and where Israeli settlements and military training centers are located.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar found that the claim is misleading because Waze never actually used a warning notice for drivers in the "C" area.
In 2018, the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement (7amleh) released a report on Google Maps and human rights in Palestine, indicating that the app works normally in the "C" area.
Another article published by the researcher Valentina Carraro in 2019 shows that the warning notices apply only to areas of "A" and "B."
