Motorola admits it goofed - Backlash in Israel to de facto recognition of
Palestine continues
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By Rachel Ehrenfeld
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

In the wake of a WorldNetDaily report that Motorola had recognized the
non-existent state of Palestine in consumer product brochures while failing
to mention Israel, a top official at Motorola is apologizing for what he
characterized as an "error."

Mark Durrant, director of communications and public affairs for the
high-tech corporate giant, said Motorola apologizes "for any concern that
this error may have caused." [text below]

Indeed, the "mistake" caused a furor in Israel and beyond.

One reader responded to yesterday's article by saying: "It sounds as though
Motorola has been bought by some Arab interests. So why not call it
Muturrullah?"

As WorldNetDaily reported yesterday, customers in Europe and Israel who
recently purchased Motorola cellphones were surprised to discover that
Israel is not listed on Motorola's customer services manual.

The list excludes Israel but includes the non-existent state of "Palestine,"
and Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is listed as a Palestinian city.

Motorola's response to inquiries made by customers included the following
explanations:

* "The name Palestine is a mistake of the European branch, which will be
corrected (The Palestinian Authority) in the next days."
* "In response to consumer inquiries, we are reviewing our manuals to
ensure that this is made clearer in the future. Motorola regrets any
misunderstandings this may have caused."

Some Israelis have not been placated by the apology.

One Israeli executive at a major high-tech company informed Motorola that a
campaign is already under way among executives of Israeli companies to end
contracts with Motorola.

The letter demands Motorola place ads in Israeli newspapers announcing the
destruction of the "erroneous manuals" and explaining that "it was your
mistake to write 'Palestine' instead of 'Palestinian Authority.'" If
Motorola does not follow that recommendation and explain why Jerusalem is
mentioned as a city in Palestine, the letter says "we will continue the
campaign to cancel the contracts we have with Motorola and stop our many
thousands of employees from using Motorola mobile phones, because each one
is getting this absurd propaganda in the brochures attached to the
telephone." Attached to the letter is a list of hundreds of executives
taking part in this campaign.

The letter concludes: "While we are here defending our lives, we will do
business only with those companies that are fair with their business
relations."

It seems that the ball is now in Motorola's court.

In the U.K. just before Christmas, the upscale department stores Selfridge's
and Harrods boycotted Israeli products because "they are produced in the
territories" occupied by "oppressing" Israel. Following angry phone calls
from customers canceling their credit cards, Selfridge's retracted its
announcement, but Harrods, owned by the Egyptian Mohamad Fayed, continues to
boycott Israeli products. The fact that they made such announcements in the
first place, and that Harrods continues with its boycott, illustrates the
prevailing European attitude toward the Palestinian Authority and its
leader, Yasser Arafat, even as the U.S. and Israel are fighting the "war on
terrorism," and the Palestinian Authority is losing credibility as a
legitimate international entity.

Previous story:

Motorola declares state of Palestine

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Rachel Ehrenfeld is the New York-based director of the Center for
International Integrity.
+++
From: Durrant Mark-AMD005
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 12:48:51 -0000
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ehrenfeld@worldnet.att.net
Subject: RE: Jerusalem in Israel

XXXXXXXX

As my comments to Dr Ehrenfeld and our statement have made clear:

1) Using the term "Palestine" to refer to the areas of the Palestinian
Authority was a mistake, for which we have expressed our regret and
apologies for any concern this has caused. To ensure that our customers and
the wider community in Israel were aware of this, we put the statement in
full on our Motorola Israel website, both in Hebrew and English.

2) Jerusalem is not "mentioned as a city in Palestine", to use your words.
Jerusalem is not named in our list. The number given for support in areas
of the Palestinian Authority is in Ramallah, which shares its dialling code
with Jerusalem. This is a long standing arrangement with the Israel
telecommunications authorities and has nothing to do with Motorola.

3) Motorola has been operating in Israel since 1964 and our wholly owned
subsidiary there is one of Israel's leading telecommunications companies.
Our commitment to Israel should not be in question.

4) This affected some manuals supplied in some European countries and was
not included in manuals for phones supplied to consumers in Israel. We are
correcting this for all publications in future.

This situation was the result of an error, nothing more, for which we have
expressed our apologies and regrets for any concern which was caused, which
was unintented.

Regards

Mark