Publisher HarperCollins has pulled from shelves an atlas with maps that failed to include the state of Israel.
As first reported recently by The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper, the atlases show Jordan and Syria extending to the Mediterranean sea, and mark the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel does not appear at all.
The Collins Primary Geography Atlas for the Middle East, was “developed specifically for schools in the Middle East,” according to the purchasing page.
Collins Bartholomew, the HarperCollins subsidiary that specializes in maps, initially told The Tablet “that including Israel in the Middle East Atlas would have been ‘unacceptable’ to its customers in the Gulf and that the amendment incorporated ‘local preferences.’”
The publisher has since apologized for the omission and removed all atlases from sale. “All remaining stock will be pulped,” HarperCollins UK wrote on its Facebook page.