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Swiss' map on flight to Israel displays Palestinian town destroyed in 1948

The Local
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Swiss' map on flight to Israel displays Palestinian town destroyed in 1948
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP.

Switzerland's main carrier has been criticised for displaying an-inflight map to passengers on a flight to Israel that omitted Tel Aviv but included the Palestinian village of Al-Shaykh Muwannis, which was destroyed and abandoned in 1948.

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For 25 years, the Swiss airline carrier has turned off the in-flight maps at least half an hour before the plane lands in Tel Aviv. But flight LX252 apparently forgot to, reports Swiss daily Blick, causing quite a controversy among passengers, mainly because Swiss' map displays a former Palestinian village that no longer exists. 

Stand With Us, a pro-Israeli American NGO, was unimpressed. 

Keen to avoid falling into the quagmire of one of the world's most divisive conflicts, a spokesperson for the airline told Blick that the company is politically neutral and that the maps are installed by a third company. The village destroyed in 1948, Al-Shaykh Muwannis, was not supposed to feature. Today, the University of Tel Aviv is situated on the grounds of the destroyed village. 

"We do not know by what criteria the places along the routes on the maps are selected," a Swiss spokesman told Blick. "We have already warned the manufacturer about the situation and asked him to remove places that no longer exist from the map."

READ ALSO: Is Switzerland set to get a new low-cost, long-distance airline?

In August, the airline caused another political controversy by bowing to pressure from the Chinese government to display the Chinese flag next to Hong Kong on its booking system. Hong Kong is an autonomous region within China. 

The airline's map blunder in Israel seems to have enraged and pleased many, depending on their worldview. 

READ MORE: Basel Green Party leader adds to calls for ban on short-haul flights

 

 

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