Reading-based Garnet Education apologizes for labeling Israel as "Occupied Palestine" in a textbook for Skills in English Writing: Level 1 as part of an exercise for a "Jordanian student at Greenhill College"

The book was published and printed in 2003 and even though many institutions have been using the textbook in their curriculum, the "serious editorial error" has only just been brought to notice.

 "I teach English as a foreign language in a further education college in Nottingham, England," Liz Wiseman told Israel Today. "I came across the attached map and couldn't believe my eyes!" Wiseman said. Although Wiseman's curriculum doesn't necessarily require her to use the textbook, it is "one of the more popular and mainstream English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks".

The error has received a lot of criticism from top editorials and publishing houses. "This is far from an isolated incident, which is motivation for drawing attention to this particular case," wrote Israel Today. "It is not only in the Middle East where students, both adults and children, are being taught that Israel has no right to exist. The more students around the world are fed this brand of propaganda, the more remote prospects for true peace become."

The publishers immediately issued a apologizing statement. "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," it said in a statement. "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."

They have also offered to issue substitutions to all institutions that possess a copy with the error. However, the company also states that there are only a few institutions that are still using the 2003 edition but are making sure to track down all possible copies with the error.

"This mistake predates the existing editorial team so it is difficult to understand exactly what happened," said the publisher. "We have checked the manuscript submitted by the authors and this did not include the map or a brief for the map, so the blame does not rest with them."