Summary
Palestinian cartographer who, in Razek’s account of his book, was brought in by Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian negotiators as a technician during the Oslo negotiations in 1993 and told them, from the maps, that there was no Palestinian state (Thirty Years On: The Ruse of the Middle East Peace Process, lines 235-237).
Details
- Razek describes him as the renowned Palestinian cartographer who made “the maps speak” (line 235).
- His judgment, as Razek quotes his book: “I don’t know if someone promised you would have a State, but I am speaking starting from the maps, and if we look at the maps, there is no Palestinian State […] you have nothing.” (line 237; a shorter form at line 155).
- His assessment, alongside other experts’, was dismissed by the Palestinian leadership, which signed the agreement irrespective of his maps showing Israeli colonial expansion; Razek: “In the end, Tafakji was right” (lines 237-239).
Related pages
Thirty Years On: The Ruse of the Middle East Peace Process, Oslo Accords, Yasir Arafat, Middle East Peace Process