HarperCollins has been forced to apologize after making a major error in a new atlas that was developed for schools in the Middle East. They forgot to put Israel on the map.
The error was first picked up by Catholic publication The Tablet earlier this week. The publisher didn’t include the name of the country between Jordan and Egypt in the Collins Middle East Atlases, which were sold in English speaking-schools in the Middle East region. Still, the map did label Gaza and the West Bank.
At first, Collins Bartholomew, the HarperCollins subsidiary that focuses on atlases, told The Tablet that it would be “unacceptable” to include Israel on a map intended for the Middle East. The change was made to incorporate “local preferences.”
But HarperCollins U.K. later posted an apology on its Facebook page, notes The Hollywood Reporter. The publisher said that the atlas was removed from stores and will be changed.
“The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel’s belief that there exists a hostility towards their country from parts of the Arab world,” Bishop Declan Lang of the Bishops’ Conference Department of International Affairs told the Tablet. “It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence.”
According to the Washington Post, the atlas was being sold on Amazon, where reviewers trashed it. Many have left one-star reviews for the book, with one person even writing that it is the last HarperCollins book they will ever buy.