Rand McNally and Merriam-Webster wipe Gaza off the map

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A friend writes:

War is God's way of teaching Americans geography, noted Ambrose Bierce. Unfortunately, Rand McNally is interfering with this grand American tradition. This weekend I purchased a $16 laminated Rand McNally world map for my nephew. After seeing images of wounded Palestinians in Gaza, he asked me where Gaza was. “Let's go to the map and find it,” I said. I couldn't find it. Or at least not a labeled Gaza Strip. Unfortunately the map does not label Gaza. Nor the West Bank. Historical Palestine is shaded in one color and referred to as Israel. Jerusalem is shown as the capital city. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus is not indicated.

How
aptly named is that Palestinian hellhole-the Gaza Strip. Israel has
stripped its residents of their land and much of their dignity. Why not
strip the name from world maps? Should not stateless people live in a
nameless hellhole?

Merriam-Webster online dictionary
declares the population of Gaza to be 57,000. Maybe that's a projection
after the next bout of cleansing. I looked up my Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate dictionary that I purchased in 1989. The dictionary lists
Gaza with a population of 118,300. The Gaza Strip is referred to
parenthetically under Gaza. It's sort of funny how the population of
“Gaza” has dropped from 118,300 in my 1989 edition to 57,000 online
today. There is no mention of the population of the Gaza Strip. I
suppose that Golda Meir might say that since the Palestinians aren't really a people why bother to count them at all?

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