HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishing houses, released an atlas in the Middle East that left out Israel.
On the map the countries Jordan and Syria both extend to the Mediterranean, covering the space on the map where Israel is supposed to be. The West Bank is marked on the map.
"The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel's belief that there exists a hostility towards their country from parts of the Arab world. It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence," Bishop Declan Lang, the chairman of the Bishops' Conference Department of International Affairs, told The Tablet.
Israel was left off the map on purpose to cater to the "local preferences" of the publisher's customers in the Gulf, Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins that specialises in maps, said to The Tablet.
One Gulf nation school doesn't allow atlases in their school until Israel is taken out by hand, reported The Tablet.
"Maps can be a very powerful tool in terms of de-legitimizing 'the other' and can lead to confusion rather than clarity. We would be keen to see relevant bodies ensure that all atlases anywhere reflect the official United Nations position on nations, boundaries and all political features," Dr. Jane Clements, director of the Council of Christians and Jews, said to The Tablet.
The publisher may not have been catering to enough of their customer's "local preferences," as they received so much backlash on the atlases that they had to recall and reprint the books.
This is not the first time Israel has been excluded from a map of the Middle East.
Most recently, children's book publisher Scholastic wiped Israel off the map in the book "Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt." The book was later recalled and republished.
In Palestine 96 percent of textbooks also remove Israel's name from their maps, reported Times of Israel.
