Area codes get political
by WASHINGTON (JTA) -- If you thought that at least your phone bill was immune from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, think again., The politicization of the phone bill began late this summer when Sprint long-distance customers complained that the company disp
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Sprint insists that the mistake was inadvertent, and changed the displays to read "Palestinian Authority."
Internet reports claiming that calls to Israel using the 972 country code also were billed as "Palestine" were false, said Monica Evans-Trout, a company spokesperson.
The International Telecommunication Union reserved the 970 code for the Palestinian territories, and Sprint began using 970 last year.
Different companies have dealt with the issue in different ways.
AT&T lists Jerusalem as a city in Israel and does not list "Palestine" as a separate country. It designates both the 972 and 970 codes as Israel.
Things get complicated when it comes to cities in Palestinian-ruled territories, said Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman.
Siegel noted that Israel is a bona fide country while, technically, no country called "Palestine" exists.
"A billing statement is not the right place to make a political statement," he said.
MCI Worldcom lists "Palestine" for the 970 code. A spokesperson said there are no political motives involved in the decision to use Palestine rather than Palestinian Authority.
For more JTA stories, go to http://www.jta.org
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