GIRO D’ITALIA organisers yielded to pressure from Israel yesterday to remove references to “West Jerusalem” on its tour programme, using “Jerusalem” instead.

The opening stage of the Giro is planned to start in Jerusalem, despite opposition from human rights campaigners who oppose Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

While the race will deliberately avoid illegally occupied territory, campaigners still say the Giro is “directly complicit in Israel’s propaganda claim” that Jerusalem is a “unified” city under its sovereignty, which is not recognised by the UN, the EU or Italy.