A publisher has apologised for its "serious editorial error" after labelling Israel as "Occupied Palestine" in a textbook.

The map was included in Skills in English Writing: Level 1 as part of an exercise for a "Jordanian student at Greenhill College". The book was printed in 2003, but is still in use in some institutions, and the error has only just been spotted by a teacher.

"I teach English as a foreign language in a further education college in Nottingham, England," Liz Wiseman told Israel Today. "I came across the attached map and couldn't believe my eyes!" Wiseman said that although she was not required to use the textbook, published by the Reading-based Garnet Education, it is "one of the more popular and mainstream English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks".

The error quickly came under attack. "This is far from an isolated incident, which is motivation for drawing attention to this particular case," wrote Israel Today. "It is not only in the Middle East where students, both adults and children, are being taught that Israel has no right to exist. The more students around the world are fed this brand of propaganda, the more remote prospects for true peace become."

Garnet has now apologised for the mistake. "In the last few days we have had a number of enquiries about a map of Israel included in Skills in English Writing – Level 1. Unfortunately the map was mislabelled 'Occupied Palestine'. This was a serious editorial error and was subsequently corrected. The book in question has not been in print for several years," it said in a statement. "Please accept our sincere apologies for any offence caused but rest assured that this was a genuine mistake and in no way reflects any Garnet Education policy."

Garnet said it was "unlikely that very many institutions will be using the 2003 edition" as the course has been out of print for some time and "the life cycle of educational materials tends to be relatively short". It is nonetheless in the process of tracking down any copies that are still being used, and is offering a substitute to any institutions still holding an incorrect version of the map.

"This mistake predates the existing editorial team so it is difficult to understand exactly what happened," said the publisher. "We have checked the manuscript submitted by the authors and this did not include the map or a brief for the map, so the blame does not rest with them."