The conflict in the Middle East has spread to the internet with Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups using Wikipedia, the electronic encyclopedia, to push their message.
The pro-Israel group, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (Camera) has called for volunteers to edit entries that display notable bias on the site.
A Palestinian aggregator, Electronic Intifada, has exposed the initiative, which it claims was to be a secretive attempt to subvert the spirit of the site.
“Wikipedia, the hugely popular online encyclopedia site, can be edited by anyone,” an email purportedly circulated by Camera said.
“The bad news is this allows anti-Israel “editors” to introduce all kinds of bias and error into the many Israel-related articles .The good news is, individual volunteers can work as ‘editors’ to ensure that these articles are free of bias and error.”
Many of the contested entries relate to the events of 60 years ago this week, when the Jewish homeland emerged as a state.
Fighting that drove Palestinians out of native villages is known on the Arab side as the Nakba, which translates as the catastrophe.
But to Israelis there are many accounts of heroic fighting that deserve a place in the historical record.
The editors of Electronic Intifada complained the Camera entries were also inaccurate: “A pro-Israel pressure group is orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia.”
Some entries were said to twist accounts of fighting.
Others changed quotes that go to the heart of the legitimacy of the state.
Volunteers were also urged to participate in Wikipedia debates on the veracity of statements.
The dispute between the two groups has gone to arbitration.
“Wikipedia is based on open, transparent editing in an atmosphere of mutual respect between editors,” a statement said.
“This goal is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of a private group to surreptitiously coordinate editing on Wikipedia by ideologically like-minded individuals.”
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