Facebook Intifada

Facebook has removed a page calling for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel after more than 350,000 people signed up to it.

The page which appeared on the social networking site was called Third Palestinian Intifada and had called for an uprising after Muslim prayers on Friday 15 May. Judgment Day will be brought upon us only once the Muslims have killed all of the Jews, a quote from the page read.

Israel had raised concerns about the page.

Facebook said the page had begun as a call for peaceful protest, even though it used the term intifada with its connotation of violent revolt. However, after the publicity of the page, more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence, said Andrew Noyes, Facebook's public policy communications manager. The creators of the page eventually made calls for violence as well, he added.

According to AFP news agency, three new copycat pages have appeared, with more than 7,000 Palestinians signing up to them.

Facebook and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg have been hit with a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages over a page on the social network which called for a Third Intifada against Israel.

Facebook this week shut down the Third Intifada page, which had almost 500,000 fans, but the lawsuit filed in a US court claims that the social network showed negligence by not quickly responding to appeals to remove the page.

Besides awarding damages, the complaint calls on the court to bar Facebook from allowing the Facebook page titled 'Third Palestinian Intifada,' and other related and similar sites, which advocate violence and death to Jews.

The suit was filed in Washington DC Superior Court by Larry Klayman, who describes himself in the complaint as an American citizen of Jewish origin who is active in matters concerning the security of Israel and all people.

Facebook dismissed the case as without merit and said it would fight. Facebook said the page was initially tolerated because it began as a call for peaceful protest but direct calls for violence began appearing and the page was removed for violating Facebook's policies.