Israel officially wipes Palestine off the map

Israel has officially wiped Palestine off the map, beating Iran, whose president reportedly said he would wipe the Jewish state “off the map,� to the punch.

A Ministry of Tourism advertisement for Israel posted in several London Underground, or subway stations, features a map of Israel that includes all the occupied Palestinian territories, infuriating campaign groups who say Israel has done to Palestine what Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened to do to the Jewish state.

The poster ad for "Experience Israel" invites tourists to visit the Jewish state, only it makes no mention of the occupied West Bank, Gaza, or the Golan Heights, swallowing them all in a bright yellow country called Israel.

The ads surfaced a week ago, prominently placed in central London stations like Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus. Several commuters complained to the London-based activist group, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which called on people to write to officials to request the ads be removed due to the "deliberate use of misinformation."

Israel is "wiping the Palestinians off the map" and "promoting itself as a tourist destination despite over 60 years of human rights violations," PSC's campaign officer Marcel Kurt told Al Arabiya.

"We are trying to make sure everybody knows Palestine is there, it exists, and we are doing this for the Palestinian people who live under occupation," Kurt said. "We are making sure their rights are acknowledged and maintained even though Israel is trying to deny their right to exist."

The issue has been taken to the Advertising Standards Agency, which regulates advertising standards and is charged with investigating allegations of misinformation and deciding whether or not the advertisement breaches any guidelines.

"We have received 264 complaints and we will be launching an investigation into the incident," the ASA's press officer, Matt Wilson, told Al Arabiya.

"We think there are grounds for an investigation," he said, explaining that people had complained the ad was "misleading because the map shows Palestinian territories as part of Israel."

The advertisement was produced by Longwood Holidays, in coordination with the ThinkIsrael.com and Israel’s Tourism Ministry.

If ASA finds the ads are misleading, it would mark the second time in less than two years that the standards agency has reprimanded ThinkIsrael.com for producing false maps in its advertisements.

Regional benefits

Israel currently occupies the Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, annexed from Syria, and is in violation of United Nations Resolution 242, which calls on Israel to withdraw from the territories.

Israel's ministry of tourism denied Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s claims that the poster was "insidious and wrong" and asserted the map had nothing to do with politics, only with tourism, which benefits the entire region.

"The map in the London Underground advertisement reflects a map that gives a tourist perspective to the region. It is not to be confused with a political map, but rather the advertisement highlights those areas within Israel which are particularly attractive to the U.K. market," Lydia Weitzman, foreign press advisor for Israel's Ministry of Tourism, told Al Arabiya.

"Tourism is one of the major engines for economic growth in Israel, benefiting all its residents. 2008 was a record year for tourism in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority and it is hoped that the recent pilgrimage of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority will serve to encourage pilgrimages to the Holy Land and bring economic benefits to the entire region, " she added.

Despite its failure to acknowledge the importance of including occupied land on its map, Israel recently issued an ultimatum to Britain's BMI airline over a similar issue after furious Israeli passengers discovered the in-flight map had removed Israel from its map and showed flights bound for Israel as heading to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

BMI insisted it did not have an anti-Israeli agenda but Israeli authorities threatened that either the Jewish state appear on the in-flight maps or BMI disappear from its skies.