Political Bias in Middle Eastern Maps

The Guardian (London) reports that maps of Palestine and Israel in Palestinian and Israeli school books generally omit the other country or the border between them. The newspaper coverage is based on a report, "Victims of Our Own Narratives? Portrayal of the 'Other' in Israeli and Palestinian School Books," led by Bruce Wexler of Yale University, funded by the U.S. State Department, and dated 4 February 2013. Among its findings:

Only 4% of maps in Palestinian textbooks show the green line, which separates Palestinian territory from Israel, or label the area west of it as "Israel". Almost six out of 10 maps depict no borders, and another third include the green line but make no reference to Israel.

In Israeli textbooks, 76% of maps show no boundaries between Palestinian territories and Israel, and Palestinian areas are not labelled.

There is, of course, much more to the report than just the cartographic evidence with which The Guardian led off its article.

What I think is the report is available online. I cannot, however, locate a copy on state.gov or yale.edu, and The Guardian does not provide a full citation.

Update 5 Feb 2013: the British historian and MP, Tristram Hunt, has published a commentary in today's The Guardian: "Israel, Palestine and the mapping of power: In portraying politics rather than geography, Ramallah and Jerusalem are displaying instincts as ancient as Ptolemy."