(JTA) – The HarperCollins publishing house apologized for omitting Israel from maps in atlases it sells to English-speaking schools in the Middle East. “This product has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologizes for this omission and for any offense caused,” the company said in a statement released Dec. 31. As of Jan. 1, the atlas remained available for sale online through major retailers. The apology came less than a day after Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins, told an international Catholic newsweekly based in London that including Israel in its atlas would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Persian Gulf and that leaving Israel off the maps incorporated “local preferences.”