A British publisher was forced to apologize last week after it was revealed that it had published a textbook with a map of Israel that was labeled “Occupied Palestine.”
The map was included in a book titled “Skills in English Writing: Level 1″ that was first printed in 2003, but the Guardian reported that it was still used in some schools.
The error was first spotted by Liz Wiseman, a teacher.
“I teach English as a foreign language in a further education college in Nottingham, England,” Wiseman told Israel Today. “I came across the attached map and couldn’t believe my eyes!”
She said that even though the book wasn’t required by the curriculum, it was nevertheless “one of the more popular and mainstream English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks.”
The publisher, Garnet Education called the inclusion of the map a “serious editorial error.”
“In the last few days we have had a number of enquiries about a map of Israel included in Skills in English Writing – Level 1″ Garnet said in astatement.
“Unfortunately the map was mislabeled ‘Occupied Palestine.’ This was a serious editorial error and was subsequently corrected.”
Garnet claimed that the book had been out of print for several years.
“Please accept our sincere apologies for any offense caused but rest assured that this was a genuine mistake and in no way reflects any Garnet Education policy,” the company said in its statement.
“This mistake predates the existing editorial team so it is difficult to understand exactly what happened.”
The company said it was searching for editions that were still in circulation and would replace any copies of the book containing the incorrect map still held by schools.
