Palestine: Reactions to Launch of Google.ps · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

“Over the years google has been adding many of the world’s local domains like google.co.uk and google.jo in which case they provides localized search results,” says blogger ArabCrunch, announcing Google's decision to add the domain google.ps to the list.  The new localized Google domain is intended to work in the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinian Internet service providers (ISPs) operate.
Last week, the Google Arabia blog announced the addition and the reasons behind it:
Today we're adding an additional domain to our list, google.ps. The new domain will give Arabic-speaking users in the Palestinian Territories, who use Palestinian ISPs, access to Google in Arabic–and eventually, access to more locally-relevant content. With the launch of google.ps, we bring the total number of Google domains worldwide to more than 160.
In a statement to ArabCrunch, Google also explained how the change will affect AdWords:
With AdWords, you can target your ads to countries or territories, or to specific regions and cities. The Adwords system uses several factors to determine whether to show your ad including the Google domain being used (.fr, .de, .kr, etc.),  the actual search term the user submits and when possible, we determine the user's general physical location based upon their computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address.” The AdWords system uses several factors to determine whether to show your ad including the Google domain being used (. Com,. De,. Kr, etc..), The actual search term the user submits and when possible, we determine the user's general physical location based upon their computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Window into Palestine explains that Palestinians in East Jerusalem will not have automatic access to google.ps (note: Anyone can access google.ps by typing the URL in directly):
Aside from East Jerusalem, which falls under de facto Israeli authority, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have generally relied on www.google.jo, Jordan's domain, and Egypt's www.google.com.eg, respectively.
Twitter user migueldeicaza expressed excitement for the latest addition to the Google family:
daiski, another Twitter user based in Qatar, thanked Google for the initiative:
Google.ps is available in both English and Arabic.