Political Mapping in Peace Relations

I think that after reading and learning about chapters 7-9 in How to Lie with Maps, our class has been exposed to many of the truths about map making.  We saw with the Falkland Islands stamps that simple maps could create significant controversy and even military intervention.  The peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis are not much different. The two nations have been contending for land in the Holy Land ever since Israel was created. In an effort to make their relationship more peaceful, leaders from both nations sought to compromise on sections of land to be given back to Palestine.  Motro happens to be a consultant in map making, and attempts to expedite the peace process. However, to her surprise, the use of maps scared government leaders since they were both manipulative and not always accurate.  She goes on to talk about the difficulties she faced such as the rushed process of making the map in a dimly lit room with sparse resources. Moreover, she goes on to talk about how the peace relations have progressed since she moved on and points out specific fundamental issues in the maps being used to promote a peaceful relationship. She wants simple maps with strong underlying value to help the sides see eye to eye. This being said, the maps available have been not up to par and it does not appear that map making is getting enough respect in the peace process. She believes that if the maps can be improved and made easy to understand, that a peaceful agreement could be found.