Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an advertisement showing the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights as part of Israel.

The advertising watchdog decided to remove the posters -- promoting tourism in Israel -- after receiving hundreds of complaints, protesting that the ad featured a map that misleadingly implied the occupied territories were internationally recognized as part of Israel.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jews for Justice for Palestine and 442 members of the public were among those who called for the removal of the "Experience Israel" posters.

"We understood that the borders and status of the occupied territories of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights were the subject of much international dispute. And because we considered that the ad implied that those territories were part of the state of Israel, we concluded that the ad was misleading," the ASA said in its ruling adding that the advertisement was banned from appearing in the same form again, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Israel's Ministry of Tourism, however, denounced the complaints as politically motivated, saying that the map, which includes the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights as part of Israel, was intended for tourism and travel information and was not meant to carry a political message.

Israeli forces occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967.

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