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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The reason geographical names are crucially important to some </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">people is that they are actively engaged in political advocacy. </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">For example, the "occupied Palestinian territories". This simple </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">term carries a lot of baggage. </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">The term means that Gaza and West Bank are _under occupation_, </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">which in turn implies that Israel is wrong to have its military </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">forces there. The term also means that the territories belong </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">to "Palestinians"; when we de-reference this latter term, we </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">find that Palestinians are a stateless people (nearly all Arabs)</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> living in (or desiring to live in) the region formerly known </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">as Palestine. </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">So, every time someone mentions Gaza and the West Bank, they </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">have a choice: simply call them "Gaza and the West Bank", which </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">doesn't imply much of anything; or call them the "occupied </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Palestinian territories", which implies that Israel shouldn't </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">have those lands but the stateless Arabs should.</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Wikipedia actually has to make this choice. It can choose to </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">get to the bottom of the controversy, take an objective stance, </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">and educate people as to the real truth. Or it can do its best </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">to stay out of the controversy and merely report on what the </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">various advocates say. I have tried to word the various Arab-</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Israeli conflict article so that Wikipedia can stay above the </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">controversy (BTW, how'm I doin? ;-).</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">What does this have to do with Polish or German names? Well, </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">I don't know: nothing, I hope. But I worry that some advocates </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">may be playing a variation on the "occupied Palestinian terri-</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">tories" game. If the REAL name of a geographical feature is </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Polish, that implies that its REAL OWNER is Poland. Or, real </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">name German implies real owner is Germany.</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">I think we should rise above this controversy as much as we can:</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">* Acknowledge the _existence_ of alternate names.</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">* Avoid any pronouncement that either alternative is the </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> "right" one.</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">* Where controversy is heated, describe it in the article, </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> e.g., "German historian Adolf Hamburger calls this village </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Frankfort, while Polish geographer Jerzy Polska call it </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> Phrangforcky."</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">My 2 cents.</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Uncle Ed, aka Ed Poor</FONT></SPAN>
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