Michael Tarazi
Michael Tarazi is a Palestinian-American lawyer and former adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Since 2008, Tarazi has worked for the government and policy team of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an organization that promotes microfinance.
Biography
Tarazi was born in the United States to Palestinian Christian parents. He grew up in Boulder, Colo., and attended Phillips Academy in Massachusetts. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He spent most of his professional career as a corporate lawyer living in New York City, Helsinki, Paris, Istanbul and Budapest before his time at the PLO.
Career
Tarazi moved to Ramallah in 2000 to work as a spokesman and legal adviser for the PLO's negotiating team. As a fluent English-speaker, he was quoted extensively in the media, including CNN, NBC, ABC and the BBC. He also toured the United States speaking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On June 7, 2002, Tarazi was described in a front-page feature article of the Wall Street Journal as “the most articulate and sophisticated Palestinian advocate to come along in years.”[1]
Positions
In a 2004 op-ed in The New York Times, Tarazi wrote in support of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.[2]
Support for one state is hardly a radical idea; it is simply the recognition of the uncomfortable reality that Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories already function as a single state. They share the same aquifers, the same highway network, the same electricity grid and the same international borders... The one-state solution... neither destroys the Jewish character of the Holy Land nor negates the Jewish historical and religious attachment (although it would destroy the superior status of Jews in that state). Rather, it affirms that the Holy Land has an equal Christian and Muslim character. For those who believe in equality, this is a good thing.[3]
Personal
Tarazi has performed as a stand-up comic in the New York Arab American Comedy Festival, where his biography describes him as "a single, gay Arab American." [4] He speaks English, Arabic and French.