UK textbook publisher apologizes for erasing Israel

Thursday, January 03, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

 

 

Earlier this week, Israel Today reported on a textbook used to teach English as a second language in the UK that contained a map of the Middle East upon which Israel was nowhere to be found.

In place of Israel, the entirety of the Holy Land was labeled as "Occupied Palestine" on a map found in the book "Skills in English Writing - Level 1".

A number of Israel Today readers contacted the publisher, Garnet Publishing, demanding an explanation. Garnet spokesman Dr. Nicky Platt responded by posting the following statement to the publisher's website:
"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. Unfortunately the map was mislabelled ‘Occupied Palestine’.

This was a serious editorial error and was subsequently corrected. The book in question has not been in print for several years. Please accept our sincere apologies for any offence caused but rest assured that this was a genuine mistake and in no way reflects any Garnet Education policy."

In a personal response to one of our readers, Dr. Platt insisted that Garnet Publishing is "taking this matter extremely seriously, and will ensure that such an error is not repeated in the future."

To demonstrate that Garnet is serious, Dr. Platt forwarded a scanned page from a newer book in the same subject area that shows a map of the Middle East with Israel correctly labeled (see above).

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23602/Default.aspx