Twitter: spreader of memes, herald of breaking news, and the absolute worst place to have a logical debate these days. Our story begins on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's account tweeting out this video:
I heard President Abbas say that if I invite him to meet, he'll come. So I'm inviting him. I've cleared my schedule. https://t.co/jXEdWR8n3n
In it, Bibi declares that if Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas wants to sit down to resume peace talks then he's offering an official invite.
He got no reply and apparently the radio silence got Bibi's government feeling thirsty, causing them to bump the video with this tweet from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' account on Tuesday.
#MahmoudAbbas, @IsraeliPM is inviting you to negotiate #peace. @nadplo, the ball is in your court now! https://t.co/pTGClXZhNx
Except they didn't just bump it, they went out of their way to tag @nadplo — that's the official Twitter account of the PLA's negotiating team.
Seen here: a dramatic recreation of that moment in the Palestinian's Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD).
Summoned into the debate, the NAD fired back, asking "Negotiate what exactly?"
The NAD proceeded to subtweet the hell out of of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a tweet or two.
#Erekat: For any negotiations to succeed, signed agreements have to be implemented: End settlement activity and release prisoners.
2-states on the 67' border: We have welcomed efforts to have negotiations based international law and UN resolutions https://t.co/LcRLWwJ5Pg
For awhile, it looked like the Twitter sparring match would be decidedly one-sided. But then the MFA jumped back into the fray with the crucial dot before the tweet to let everyone know where they stand.
.@nadplo @IsraelMFA @IsraeliPM So, is that a yes or just another excuse not to open a dialogue for peace?
So this has been totally productive and not at all posturing from both sides. Don't worry, guys, at this rate we'll have peace in the Middle East in no time.
