British Museum Replaces 'Palestine' With 'Gaza' and 'West Bank' in Ancient Levant Displays

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, demanded that the Foreign Office intervene after the British Museum removed references to Palestine from exhibits covering the Middle East. The changes, made in 2025, coincided with the same year Britain formally recognised the state of Palestine in September.

Zomlot has called for the word "Palestine" to be reinstated and wrote to British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan and to ministers requesting reversal of the alterations.

The museum removed "Palestine" from a panel listing present-day countries within the ancient Levant region. "Gaza" and "the West Bank" replaced "Palestine" and "Palestinian" on explanatory panels in the ancient Levant and Egyptian rooms. Among the specific changes, the word "Palestinian" was replaced with "Canaanite" in a panel about the Hyksos rulers of Egypt from roughly 1700 to 1500 BC.

References to Palestine and the Philistines were also removed from a text about the Phoenicians. " He said: "For me, this is not only a political issue. This is not even just a historical issue.

This is an existential issue. " The changes were first reported by The Telegraph in February. Zomlot was invited to meet Nicholas Cullinan and curators in March. He left the meeting without any commitment that the changes would be reversed and was offered a tour of the museum which he declined.

In a subsequent letter to Nicholas Cullinan, Zomlot said it would not have been appropriate to engage further in a way that could be interpreted as endorsing the museum's current presentation. He said he remained willing to continue discussions once the changes had been addressed. Zomlot was still awaiting a response from the Foreign Office.