At his office at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs yesterday, we had a wide-ranging conversation on international law and diplomacy. I asked him what he could tell me about Erekat, whom I have documented many times as a liar.
Baker responded with a story. He saw Erekat on CNN, "literally in tears," saying what can only be described as baldfaced lies about how Israeli forces are attacking Palestinians and violating agreements.
"I phoned him up," Baker said. "I said 'Saeb, how can you say that? You know that I know that you know that this is not right! We both sat and negotiated the truth!...' And he said to me, 'Alan, you do your job and I do my job.' And that more or less sums it up."
Baker then implied that Erekat's habitual lies may have hurt the negotiations in general. He added, "When you have someone who really sells lies, it's very difficult afterwards to trust them when you get back to the negotiating table. This breakdown of mutual trust is very significant."
In this video excerpt, Baker also describes the bizarre scene of enemies working together during the arduous peace talks, with him sharing a Jacuzzi with former terrorist Jibril Rajoub at a hotel, both of them complaining about their wives and mothers-in-law.
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