LONDON: Palestine’s ambassador to the UK has asked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to step in following the removal of references to Palestine in exhibits at the British Museum, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Husam Zomlot described the museum’s move as historical “erasure” after the words “Palestine” and “Palestinian” were taken off labels describing exhibits in sections for ancient Egypt and the Levant.
He called for a discussion with the museum, which has in some instances used Gaza and the West Bank on its labels to denote the modern geography of the ancient Levant.
Zomlot said he turned down an offer to meet the museum’s director, Nicholas Cullinan, and to be given a tour on March 24 after receiving no assurances the move would be reversed.
In a letter to Cullinan seen by The Guardian and New Lines Magazine on April 9, Zomlot wrote: “In the absence of corrective action, or a clear commitment to address the issues identified, it would not have been appropriate to engage further in a manner that could be interpreted as an endorsement of the current presentation.”
He said he would be prepared to reconsider the offer “once the necessary corrections have been made.”
Zomlot told The Guardian that he has appealed to the FCDO to intervene. “I sent a letter to the minister in charge in the Foreign Office, and we are waiting for (a response),” he said.
“For me, this is not only a political issue. This is not only a legal issue. This is not even just a historical issue. This is an existential issue. Because erasing our past is erasing our present.”
A government spokesperson said: “Museums and galleries in the UK operate independently of the government, which means that decisions relating to the management of their collections are a matter for their trustees.”
The British Museum made the changes to its exhibit labeling in September 2025, the same month the UK government formally recognized the State of Palestine.
Over time, significant historical artifacts have been removed by Israel from the Occupied Territories, and in September 2025 it bombed Gaza City’s most important storage site for ancient archeological treasures in the enclave.
The British Museum denied that it had altered exhibits to erase references to Palestine, saying in a statement: “We have not removed the term ‘Palestine’ from displays and continue to refer to it across a series of galleries, both contemporary and historic, and on our website.”
However, photographic evidence seen by The Guardian shows that in one case, the word “Palestinian” has been replaced by “Canaanite” in a label for an exhibit about the Hyksos dynasty in ancient Egypt.
In another exhibit, references to Palestine and the ancient Philistines have been replaced with text saying the people in question were “locally known as ‘Canaanites.’”
Canaanite is a term that appears frequently in the Bible to refer to a number of peoples occupying the southern ancient Levant.
Peleset, the word many believe is the root of Palestine, appears in Egyptian inscriptions from the 12th century BC.
The Philistines, whose city states included Gaza, appear in references from antiquity at around the time of the first references to the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
“The decision to remove Palestine has nothing to do with historical accuracy,” Marchella Ward, a lecturer in classical studies at the Open University, told The Guardian.
“It’s no less accurate than any other term. In fact, given that it’s used so frequently in historical sources rather than in biblical sources, one might say it’s more accurate than other terms.”
Josephine Quinn, professor of ancient history at Cambridge University, told the newspaper: “The worrying thing for me is the idea that it matters, that ancient categories have any direct relevance to politics today, or that they can justify or excuse genocide in the contemporary world.”
The Guardian reported that the word “Palestine” does still appear in several labels across the museum, including maps of the Middle East in the ancient Egypt section.
