Saeb Erekat

Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (also Erikat, Erakat or Arekat; Template:Langx, Template:Langx; 28 April 1955Template:Spnd10 November 2020) was a Palestinian politician and diplomat who was the secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO from 2015 until his death in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He served as chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 12 February 2011. He participated in early negotiations with Israel and remained chief negotiator from 1995 until May 2003, when he resigned in protest from the Palestinian government. He reconciled with the party and was reappointed to the post in September 2003. Erekat died in the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem of complications from COVID-19 on 10 November 2020, at the age of 65.<ref name="dw death">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="guardian death">Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life and education

Erekat was born in Abu Dis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="GlobalSecurity">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="JMCC1">Template:Cite web</ref> He was a member of the Palestinian branch of the Erekat family, itself a branch of the Howeitat tribal confederation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Erekat was one of seven children, with his brothers and sisters living outside of Israel or the Palestinian territories.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was 12 years old when the Israelis occupied the West Bank, and was detained by them a year later for writing anti-occupation graffiti, posting fliers and throwing stones.<ref name="auto"/>

In 1972, Erekat moved to San Francisco, California, to attend college.<ref name=autogenerated1>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He spent two years at City College of San Francisco, a two-year community college.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> He then transferred to San Francisco State University.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> There, Erekat received a BA in international relations (in 1977) and an MA in political science (in 1979).<ref name="JMCC1"/> He completed his PhD in peace and conflict studies at the University of Bradford in England (in 1983).<ref name="JMCC1"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Erekat was married to Neameh, and was the father of twin daughters Dalal and Salam; and two sons, Ali and Muhammad.<ref name="auto"/>

Career

Academia

After gaining his doctorate in England, Erekat moved to the West Bank town of Nablus to lecture in political science at An-Najah National University.

Al-Quds editor

He served for 12 years on the editorial board of the locally widely circulated Palestinian newspaper, Al-Quds.<ref name="JMCC1"/><ref name="BBC2003"/>

Politics

In 1991, Erekat was deputy head of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference and the subsequent follow-up talks in Washington D.C. between 1992 and 1993. In 1994, he was appointed the Minister for Local Government for the Palestinian National Authority and also the Chairman of the Palestinian negotiation delegation.<ref name="JMCC1"/> In 1995, Erekat served as Chief Negotiator for the Palestinians during the Oslo period. He was then elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996, representing Jericho.<ref name="JMCC1"/> As a politician, Erekat was considered to be a Yasser Arafat loyalist, including the Camp David meetings in 2000 and the negotiations at Taba in 2001. Erekat was also, along with Arafat and Faisal Husseini, one of the three high-ranking Palestinians who asked Ariel Sharon not to visit Al-Aqsa in September 2000,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> an event which was followed by the Second Intifada. He also acted as Arafat's English interpreter. When Mahmoud Abbas was nominated to serve as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Legislative Council in early 2003, Erekat was slated to be Minister of Negotiations in the new cabinet, but he soon resigned after he was excluded from a delegation to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This was interpreted as part of an internal Palestinian power struggle between Abbas and Arafat.<ref name="BBC2003">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Erekat was later reappointed to his post and participated in the 2007 Annapolis Conference, where he took over from Ahmed Qurei during an impasse and helped hammer out a joint declaration.<ref name="HaaretzJoint">Template:Cite news</ref>

He resigned from his post as chief negotiator on 12 February 2011 citing the release of the Palestine Papers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2013, however, he was still holding the function.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, he became the secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He later promoted a plan for the basis for new talks with international diplomats including Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and special adviser.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

Erekat was one of the more prominent Palestinian spokespeople in the Western media.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He wrote extensively in the media about Palestinian statehood,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was a vocal critic of the Trump administration's peace plan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Erekat at one time maintained good relations with his counterpart negotiators, in which Israeli justice minister Tsipi Livni mentioned that her talks with Erekat were always honest, and there was mutual respect despite frequent disagreements.<ref name="auto"/> In addition, Erekat took his American counterpart, Martin Indyk, on a tour of Hisham's Palace near Jericho.<ref name="auto"/>

Health issues and death

On 8 May 2012, Erekat was hospitalized in Ramallah after suffering a heart attack.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 12 October 2017, he had a lung transplant at Inova Fairfax Hospital in northern Virginia, United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Erekat, who was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> tested positive for COVID-19 on 9 October 2020.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 18 October, he was sent to the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 21 October, his daughter said on Twitter that he underwent a bronchoscopy to examine the condition of his respiratory system.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Erekat died of complications from COVID-19 on 10 November 2020, at the age of 65.<ref name="dw death" /><ref name="guardian death" /> He was interred in the cemetery in Jericho.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Works

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• Imam Ali Bin Abi Taleb and Negotiations (2015)

See also

• Arab–Israeli conflict
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Foreign relations of Israel
• Salah Al-Zawawi

External links

• Saeb Erekat debates Dan Meridor at the International Peace Institute, June 25, 2010 (video)
• San Francisco State University magazine interview with Saeb Erekat
• Interview with Erekat from August 1991