British Museum removes some references to ‘Palestine’ after accuracy complaints |
The British Museum in London has removed some references to “Palestine” and people of “Palestinian descent” in some of its displays and is reviewing more cases, deeming them historically inaccurate and no longer neutral, following complaints by a pro-Israel group.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) said in a statement Saturday that it had raised concerns about using the term in gallery panels and labels describing the ancient Levant and Egypt.
The group said it wrote to the museum’s director, Nicholas Cullinan, that “several maps and descriptions retroactively apply the term ‘Palestine’ to periods in which no such entity existed and risk obscuring the history of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Applying a single name across thousands of years “erases historical changes and creates a false impression of continuity,” it argued, asking for the terminology to be amended “so regions are referred to by historically accurate names such as Canaan, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, or Judea, depending on the period being described.”
A variation of the name Palestine, which the Romans gave to the Land of Israel in the 2nd century CE, was first documented in Greek literature in the 5th century CE. It is believed to be named after the Philistines, an ancient non-Semitic people mentioned in the Bible.
UKLFI said in its statement that a spokesperson for the British Museum replied that it was “in the processes of reviewing and updating panels and labels on a case-by-case basis. For example, the information panels in the Levant gallery, covering the period 2000-300 BC, have all been updated to describe in some detail the history of Canaan and the Canaanites and the rise of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel using those names. A revised text devoted to the Phoenicians was installed in early 2025.”
One of the examples given was a panel in the Egypt galleries having been changed from “Palestinian descent” to “Canaanite descent.”
“The Museum’s spokesperson explained that the larger graphic panels and maps require significantly more coordination and resources and cannot be updated and replaced at once, given their importance for visitor navigation of the gallery,” UKLFI added. “This work is being scheduled with designers and interpreters but, because of the scale and cost, will be implemented in phases over the coming years as part of the Museum’s long-term Masterplan redevelopment.”
The museum itself confirmed making the alterations, telling media outlets that “for the Middle East galleries for maps showing ancient cultural regions, the term ‘Canaan’ is relevant for the southern Levant in the later second millennium BCE. We use the UN terminology on maps that show modern boundaries, for example, Gaza, West Bank, Israel, Jordan, and refer to ‘Palestinian’ as a cultural or ethnographic identifier where appropriate.”
Since the changes have been made, thousands have signed an online petition urging the museum to reverse them.
Reacting to the museum’s actions, UKLFI said: “We welcome the British Museum’s willingness to review and amend terminology which is inaccurate or liable to convey an incorrect meaning today. The finding of its audience testing, that the term ‘Palestine’ is in some circumstances no longer meaningful, is relevant to and should be taken on board by other museums and cultural institutions.”
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UK Lawyers For Israel