Israel Replaced With Palestine on Map in Language Class at SDSU

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From ABC News 10:

SAN DIEGO – A map distributed in a language class at San Diego State University labeled Israel as Palestine, leading to an outcry from the local Jewish community.

Sources told Team 10 the map was handed out by a professor on the second day of class in an Arabic language course. Sources said students were upset and unsure how to protest the erroneous map because they feared speaking out publicly could have a negative impact on their grades.

The map made its way to the San Diego Jewish group, “StandWithUs.”

The group sent a newsletter to its members and urged the community to contact the department’s chairman and Arabic program director. The group also posted the map to its Facebook page.

The electronic newsletter states the map “not only fails to label ‘Israel’ as a legitimate country,” but that “it falsely portrays the entire territory of Israel as ‘Palestine.’”

The group questioned the department chair about the map, and shared that response with Team 10.

It said the professor used Palestine in place of Israel on the labels to “reflect the view of Arab-speakers in the region.”

Also, the statement said the language class professor intended to “have students get into groups and research the political developments of each area on the map, with the assumption that this would lead to a discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the history of the state of Israel.”

Near the end of the reply to the group, it said the professor would “distribute a map that includes labels for members of the Arab League as well as Israel.”

Team 10 contacted SDSU late Tuesday morning with questions about the handout, and on Tuesday afternoon the school issued this statement:

“While SDSU encourages scholarly debate and discussion of varying opinions, presenting inaccurate information to students in not acceptable. SDSU’s Provost has conferred with the department chair, who spoke with the faculty member. This inaccurate portrayal will not reoccur.”

The United States does not recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation.