A map of the Middle East in an Algerian geography textbook that labels Israel by that name rather than with "Palestine" has evoked a public furor.
In response, the Ministry of National Education announced that the textbook would be removed from the seventh grade curriculum and that an investigation would be launched.
The ministry explained that the publishing house responsible for the book was at fault, claiming that the version that they approved did not include the word "Israel." The publishing house's director, Hamidou Masudi, apologized "for offending the Algerian's sensitivities. This was a lapse and an unintentional mistake."
Masudi explained that the book's designer was under the pressure of a deadline, downloaded a map from the internet that labeled the Jewish state as "Israel."
Minister of National Education Nouria Benghebrit has received the brunt of the criticism. One opinion piece in the Algerian newspaper Echorouk was entitled, "Hasn't the time come for this minister to go?"
This "mapgate" has worsened the tense relations between Benghebrit and the Islamist parties in the country that are protesting her efforts to move Islamic and Arab studies to the margins.