Lead American peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt has for a week been engaged in a public Twitter spat with his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat. In the latest social media drama, the U.S. envoy accused the latter of showing his “fears” and of failing to offer any “realistic solutions” to the conflict with Israel. “Saeb: I saw your many tweets.… Time to get serious & use your intellect. Palestinians deserve it. My door is open—don’t waste more time,” Greenblatt wrote on the social media platform. This came after Erekat blasted the American on Monday, composing a since-deleted tweet asserting, “The US so called peace team not only added to the separation of [the] Gaza [Strip] from the West Bank, but has destroyed any chance of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.” The exchange took place on the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in which he described his approach to peacemaking as “based on principle, realism, not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress. For this reason, my administration recognized the true capital of Israel—and proudly opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.” For his part, Erekat wrote of Trump’s comments, “With these position[s] and stands there are no doors open, no one will knock on illusionary fake doors.” White House officials have stated that President Trump’s long-anticipated and oft-delayed peace proposal will be presented shortly after Israel’s elections slated for April 9.
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