British passport
British passportISTOCK

Ayelet Balavan was in for a surprise when she had her British passport renewed. According to the new document, Ayelet, born in Jerusalem, was in effect, a native of the "Occupied Palestinian Territories."

In an interview with Kan Radio, Ayelet wondered: "What am I supposed to do with this passport? It's my personal identification papers."

Kan News said the incident is likely part of a new policy by the British government since Ayelet's former passport had her born in Jerusalem. Even the one issued to Balavan's brother just two years prior features "Jerusalem" - not "Palestinian Territories" as his place of birth.

"Maybe they were confused because I live in a community made up of evacuees from Gush Katif," said Ayelet, but the problem with that preposition is the fact that "Occupied Palestinian Territories" refers to her current place of residence rather than town of birth.

Balavan contacted Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tzipi Hotovli, in an attempt to find out whether other UK nationals residing in Israel had encountered the same problem, and even reached out to Nefesh B'Nefesh, who also said they'd never confronted the issue. The organization passed the claim to Israel's Foreign Office in the UK, where they said they were investigating the apparent conundrum. The British embassy in Israel has yet to provide a response to the inquiry.

UK passport error
UK passport errorKan News