Amb. Alan Baker being interviewed by Elder of Ziyon. Photo: Screenshot.

An Israeli peace negotiator called a key Palestinian counterpart “an accomplished liar” on Tuesday.

In an interview with blogger Elder of Ziyon, Alan Baker – a former Israeli ambassador to Canada and current director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs – demonstrated the veracity of his accusation by recounting an anecdote about chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Once I saw him on CNN, literally in tears about the fact that the Israelis are attacking Palestinians, violating the [Oslo] agreement. I phoned him up, because after you spend hours and hours negotiating, you develop a sort of camaraderie – I wouldn’t call it friendship…

So I said, “Saeb, how can you say that? You know that I know that you know that it’s not right.”

And he said to me, “Alan, you do your job, and I do my job.”

Baker, an international law expert who was involved in the negotiation and drafting of treaties with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians, told Elder of Ziyon, “In my opinion, when you have somebody who deliberately sells the lies, it’s very difficult afterwards to trust that person if and when you get back to negotiating. So this whole breakdown of mutual trust is very significant.”

Watch the interview below: