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Violence Erupts After 2 Israeli Soldiers Using Waze App Get Lost in West Bank Israeli Soldiers Get Lost Using Waze App, and Clashes Follow
(about 4 hours later)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Two Israeli soldiers using the navigation app Waze accidentally entered an unruly refugee camp in the West Bank, provoking clashes and a gun battle that led to the death of a Palestinian man. RAMALLAH, West Bank — Two Israeli soldiers led astray by their smartphone navigation app accidentally wandered into an unruly area of the West Bank, provoking clashes and a gun battle that left a Palestinian man dead.
The soldiers drove into the Kalandia refugee camp in a military vehicle late Monday evening and were immediately attacked by Palestinians, who apparently suspected the military was conducting a raid in the dense maze of cinder-block homes. The soldiers, from the army’s canine unit, were following Waze, a navigation app, late Monday when they drove into an area bordering the Kalandia refugee camp, between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
As the Palestinians began hurling stones and firebombs that were believed to have set the vehicle ablaze, the soldiers fled. The app is popular among Israelis, but soldiers are under standing orders not to use GPS services in areas with which they are not familiar, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military.
One of the soldiers was quickly located in a valley between the camp and a nearby Jewish settlement, but there were concerns that the other might have been kidnapped, Moshe Yaalon, the Israeli defense minister, said at a technology conference on Tuesday. “They should be using maps, and they should know the route,” he said.
The missing soldier was eventually found around midnight, but the absence had already prompted Israel to send more forces, including helicopters, into the area, the Israeli news media reported. Armed, in uniform and driving a clearly identifiable military vehicle, they were quickly attacked by Palestinians, who apparently suspected that the soldiers were part of a military raid.
A 22-year-old Palestinian man, Iyad Sajadiyya, was subsequently shot and killed, according to Maan, a Palestinian news outlet. Maan identified him as a journalism student. Mr. Yaalon said Mr. Sajadiyya had been armed. The Palestinians hurled rocks and firebombs and set the vehicle ablaze, the military said Tuesday. The soldiers, who were on an administrative task, abandoned their vehicle and fled separately on foot.
It was unclear why the soldiers were using Waze to navigate near the camp. A statement issued by Waze to Agence France-Presse said that the soldiers had been at fault, with the company suggesting that they had veered off a route suggested by the application. One called for help from his cellphone and was rescued within 20 minutes, according to the military. His companion had left his phone in their sport utility vehicle. Out of contact, the military had feared he might have been abducted, prompting Israel to send more forces, including helicopters and surveillance drones into the area.
Waze, a navigation tool developed in Israel, is popular among Israelis. The application’s default setting does not provide navigation in areas of the West Bank considered dangerous to Israelis; the soldiers would have had to turn off its “safe mode” to use it while driving around Kalandia. The missing soldier was eventually found in a valley between the refugee camp and a nearby Jewish settlement.
Perhaps more important, the application does not distinguish between the different areas of the West Bank’s political map once users take it off safe mode, making it potentially perilous for Israelis and Palestinians who rely on it inside the territory. When Israeli troops came to retrieve the abandoned vehicle, clashes broke out between soldiers and local Palestinians, lasting until the early hours of the morning.
The West Bank is a mosaic of Palestinian-ruled areas where Israelis may not enter without prior authorization; Jewish settlements where Palestinians may not enter without permits; and Israeli military checkpoints and border crossings. A 22-year-old Palestinian man, Iyad Sajadiyya, was shot and killed, according to Maan, a Palestinian news outlet. Moshe Yaalon, the Israeli defense minister, who was attending a technology conference on Tuesday, said that Mr. Sajadiyya had been armed.
It was unclear why the soldiers were using Waze, a smartphone app developed in Israel and acquired by Google for more than $1 billion in 2013, to navigate in the West Bank.
Waze told Agence France-Presse in a statement that the soldiers must have veered off the route suggested by the application.
Waze’s default setting does not provide navigation in areas of the West Bank considered dangerous for Israelis; the soldiers would have had to turn off the app’s “safe mode” to use it around Kalandia.
Colonel Lerner said that the episode was under review, and that the military wanted to know, among other things, “how they ended up there and what were their orders for getting from A to B.”
Mr. Yaalon, the defense minister, warned against relying too much on technology to navigate potentially dangerous areas. Waze, which uses crowd-sourced information from its users to suggest the best routes, “does not take into account all of the considerations,” he said. At the same time, Mr. Yaalon acknowledged that, “not a small amount of technology was involved” in ultimately finding the soldiers.
Waze does not distinguish among the different areas of the West Bank’s political map once the safe mode is disabled, making it potentially perilous for Israelis and Palestinians who rely on it inside the territory.
The West Bank is a mosaic of Palestinian-ruled areas that Israelis may not enter without prior authorization, Jewish settlements where Palestinians are forbidden without permits, and Israeli military checkpoints and border crossings.
Waze also tends to confuse Palestinian and Israeli areas, which often have the same, or similar, names.Waze also tends to confuse Palestinian and Israeli areas, which often have the same, or similar, names.
In June, two Israeli soldiers who were using Waze accidentally entered the Palestinian city of Tulkarm after they typed in “Beit Lid,” a road junction which lies in Israel. In June, two other Israeli soldiers who were using the app accidentally entered the Palestinian city of Tulkarm after they typed in “Beit Lid,” the name of a village near the Tulkarm area of the West Bank and the name of a road junction in Israel.
Instead, they were directed to Beit Lid, a Palestinian village near Tulkarm. The two female soldiers were escorted out of the area by the Palestinian police.
There are not one but three Kalandias in Waze: a small Palestinian village, the nearby Kalandia military crossing operated by Israeli soldiers, and the Kalandia refugee camp.
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Yaalon said Waze had directed the soldiers to a shortcut between Jerusalem and nearby Ramallah, a city in the West Bank.
“I have learned a long time ago that despite GPS, we must not forget navigation by map,” Mr. Yaalon said. Technological systems, he noted, “do not take into account all of the considerations.”
The episode inspired wry commentary about the Israeli military’s presence in the West Bank.
“Waze isn’t the problem,” Khaled Diab, an Egyptian-Belgian writer living in Jerusalem, posted on Twitter. “Its Israel’s faulty political navigation system which led it into a decades-long occupation.”
Israelis had questions of their own. One reporter asked Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, a former central commander, on Israeli radio: “Do soldiers now count on Waze? Don’t they learn to navigate and read maps?”
General Shamni said that soldiers did learn to navigate and that the matter would be investigated. “In general, in Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the biblical term for the West Bank, “the situation calls for greater caution.”
In its statement, Waze said that the soldiers had disabled the so-called safe mode. The company also noted that there was a large red sign on the road to the refugee camp warning Israelis that it was dangerous and that they were prohibited to travel there.