The publishers of a college textbook have apologised for a book used to teach English to foreign students, containing an image erasing Israel from a map of the Middle East.

Skills in English: Writing Level 1 displayed a diagram showing Israel and the Palestinian territories as one country titled “Occupied Palestine”.

A Jewish teacher in Nottingham saw the error and complained.

A spokeswoman for Reading-based Garnet Education said the edition in question was first published around 2003 but has been out of print for a number years. The mistake was rectified in later editions.

She said staff were “shocked” that the “editorial mistake” was not noticed when the book was first compiled. A university in the United Arab Emirates which assisted with writing the book may have been to blame for the use of the map, she suggested.