Saeb Erekat, veteran chief Palestinian negotiator and prominent Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) official has died on 10 November after complications with Covid-19.
Erekat, 65, who was also secretary-general of the PLO, was diagnosed with the coronavirus in early October. He said he had been suffering from “difficult” symptoms, but that he had things “under control”.
Hundreds of people attended Erekat’s funeral and memorial ceremony in the West Bank city of Jericho on Wednesday.
A longtime ally of former Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat and current President Mahmoud Abbas, Erekat was involved in every round of negotiations held between the Palestinian and Israeli governments since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
“Erekat’s death marks the end of an era,” said Robert Malley, head of the International Crisis Group think-tank. “An era in which Israelis and Palestinians sought to negotiate a peaceful solution to their conflict. He embodied that era, with all its hope and all its frustrations.”
Erekat is survived by his wife, two sons, twin daughters and eight grandchildren.
Source: Al Jazeera & Middle East Eye