British Museum Drops 'Palestine' Term From Certain Exhibits In Middle East Galleries; Here's Why

The British Museum, located in London, has dropped the name ‘Palestine’ from some of the exhibits in the Middle East gallery panel because it is historically inaccurate and obsolete. 

“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,” according to the British Museum, quoted by The Jerusalem Post. The official further said that some of the exhibits, which are on display in the panel, are from a date earlier than the second millennium BCE and are being reviewed as part of refurbishing these spaces. 

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Why Did The British Museum Decide To Drop The ‘Palestine’ Name?

The move of the British Museum comes after the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) expressed their concerns about the historical inaccuracies, while referring to ‘Palestine’ in displays covering the ancient Levant and Egypt in periods where the geographical areas did not exist. The UKLFI expressed their concerns that such a move would lead to an erasure of the history of Israel as a country and the Jewish community. 

According to the note, UKLFI has identified several maps displayed in the museum’s Egypt galleries, covering periods from approximately 1795 BC to 332 BC, which label the area of modern-day Israel as Palestine.

The UKLFI said that applying a single name across thousands of years can miss out on the historical changes that the region has gone through historically and give out a “false impression of continuity.” In place of ‘Palestine’, the organisation has advised the museum to replace them with historically accurate names such as Canaan, the Kingdom of Israel and Judah or Judea, depending on the period which is being described. 

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Changing Name According To Political History

The organisation noted that while the term ‘Palestine’ is used very loosely in the context of Western and Middle Eastern scholarship as a geographical and “neutral” designation for the southern area of the Levant, the discourse is very fragile in the modern era and needs to be dealt with carefully in the context of political history.

The move taken by the museum was positively welcomed by the UKLFI. A spokesperson from the organisation said, “Museums play a vital role in public education, and it is essential that descriptions reflect the historical record with precision and neutrality. These changes are an important step toward ensuring visitors receive an accurate understanding of the ancient Near East.”