Palestinian politician and diplomat (1955?2020)
Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat
(
Arabic
:
???? ???? ???? ??????
???ib ?Urayq?t
; also
?R?q?t, Erikat, Erakat, Arekat
; 28 April 1955 – 10 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.
[1]
[2]
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.
Personal life and education
Erekat was born in
Abu Dis
.
[3]
[4]
[5]
He was a member of the Palestinian branch of the Erekat family, itself a branch of the
Howeitat
tribal confederation.
[6]
Erekat was one of seven children, with his brothers and sisters living outside of Israel or the
Palestinian territories
.
[7]
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.
[8]
In 1972, Erekat moved to
San Francisco
, California, to attend college.
[9]
He spent two years at
City College of San Francisco
, a two-year
community college
.
[9]
He then transferred to
San Francisco State University
.
[9]
There, Erekat received a
BA
in international relations (in 1977) and an
MA
in
political science
(in 1979).
[5]
He completed his PhD in
peace and conflict studies
at the
University of Bradford
in England (in 1983).
[5]
[10]
Erekat was married to Neameh, and was the father of twin daughters Dalal and Salam; and two sons, Ali and Muhammad.
[8]
Career
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
and also served for 12 years on the editorial board of the locally widely circulated Palestinian newspaper,
Al-Quds
.
[5]
[11]
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.
[5]
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
.
[5]
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,
[12]
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.
[11]
[13]
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.
[14]
He resigned from his post as chief negotiator on 12 February 2011 citing the release of the
Palestine Papers
.
[15]
In July 2013, however, he was still holding the function.
[16]
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.
[8]
Legacy
Erekat was one of the more prominent Palestinian spokespeople in the Western media.
[17]
He wrote extensively in the media about
Palestinian statehood
,
[18]
and was a vocal critic of the
Trump administration's peace plan
.
[19]
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.
[8]
In addition, Erekat took his American counterpart,
Martin Indyk
, on a tour of
Hisham's Palace
near
Jericho
.
[8]
Health issues and death
On 8 May 2012, Erekat was hospitalized in
Ramallah
after suffering a heart attack.
[20]
On 12 October 2017, he had a lung transplant at
Inova Fairfax Hospital
in
northern Virginia
,
United States
.
[21]
Erekat, who was suffering from
pulmonary fibrosis
,
[22]
tested positive for
COVID-19
on 9 October 2020.
[23]
On 18 October, he was sent to the Israeli
Hadassah Ein Karem
hospital in
Jerusalem
in critical condition.
[24]
On 21 October, his daughter said on
Twitter
that he underwent a
bronchoscopy
to examine the condition of his
respiratory system
.
[25]
Erekat died of complications from COVID-19 on 10 November 2020, at the age of 65.
[26]
[27]
He was interred in the cemetery in Jericho.
[28]
Works
See also
References
- ^
"Saeb Erekat (Secretary General)"
.
ECFR
. Archived from
the original
on 27 January 2021
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
"Saeb Erekat | The Guardian"
.
the Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 26 June 2020
. Retrieved
23 June
2020
.
- ^
"
Saeb Erekat
Archived
22 February 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
".
Palestinian Biographies
. lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
- ^
John Pike.
"Saeb Erekat"
. Globalsecurity.org.
Archived
from the original on 21 September 2016
. Retrieved
5 August
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
'Politics in Palestine', Palestinian National Authority: The PA Ministerial Cabinet List Emergency Cabinet, October 2003 ? November 2003
Archived
15 August 2007 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre
.
- ^
"
[1]
Archived
10 November 2020 at the
Wayback Machine
" [family Erekat]
(in Arabic)
. rabettah.net. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
- ^
"
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat: Abu Mazen Rejected the Israeli Proposal in Annapolis Like Arafat Rejected the Camp David 2000 Proposal
Archived
5 August 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
" (video with transcript).
MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute)
. 27 March 2009. "In my family, we are seven siblings. My six brothers and sisters are in the diaspora." Retrieved 5 August 2017.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Saeb Erekat, Longtime Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Dies at 65"
.
The New York Times
. 10 November 2020.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2020
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
"SFSU Magazine Fall/Winter '03: Saeb Erekat, Forging a Path to Peace | SF State Magazine"
.
magazine.sfsu.edu
.
Archived
from the original on 21 February 2018
. Retrieved
21 February
2018
.
- ^
Mattar, Philip (19 November 2005).
Encyclopedia of the Palestinians
. Infobase Publishing.
ISBN
9780816069866
.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2020
. Retrieved
16 October
2020
– via Google Books.
- ^
a
b
'Profile: Saeb Erakat'
Archived
27 July 2004 at the
Wayback Machine
,
BBC News
, 4 September 2003.
- ^
Menachem Klein,
The Jerusalem Problem: The Struggle for Permanent Status
, University Press of Florida, 2003 p.98
- ^
'Q & A with Saeb Erekat'
,
The Jerusalem Post
, 1 February 2005.
Archived
31 October 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Issacharoff, Avi; Ravid, Barak (28 November 2007).
"Annapolis joint statement was completed with just minutes to spare"
.
Haaretz
.
Archived
from the original on 29 November 2007
. Retrieved
29 November
2007
.
- ^
"Erekat quits over Palestine Papers ? Middle East"
. Al Jazeera English. 13 February 2011.
Archived
from the original on 13 February 2011
. Retrieved
12 February
2011
.
- ^
PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, 28 July 2013,
Press Release?Dr. Erekat: “We will continue working for the release of all our political prisoners.”
Archived
29 October 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Bennet, James (17 May 2003).
"Top Palestinian Negotiator Offers to Quit on Eve of Talks"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
29 January
2012
.
- ^
"Saeb Erekat"
.
haaretz.com
. 10 March 2019.
Archived
from the original on 31 October 2020
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
"The Trump administration, peddling Israeli extremism, is killing the peace process, not me | Opinion"
.
Haaretz
.
Archived
from the original on 20 August 2020
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
"Top Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat suffers heart attack"
.
The Independent
. 8 May 2012.
Archived
from the original on 31 July 2017
. Retrieved
5 August
2017
.
- ^
"Palestinian negotiator Erekat undergoes successful lung transplant surgery ? Arab Israeli Conflict ? Jerusalem Post"
.
www.jpost.com
. 14 October 2017.
Archived
from the original on 15 November 2019
. Retrieved
19 November
2019
.
- ^
"His Health Crisis Made Public, Palestinian Envoy Pushes On"
.
The New York Times
. 2 August 2017.
Archived
from the original on 31 October 2020
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
"Palestinian negotiator Erekat facing 'difficult' coronavirus symptoms"
.
Reuters
. 9 October 2020.
Archived
from the original on 17 October 2020
. Retrieved
16 October
2020
.
- ^
"Senior PLO official Saeb Erekat taken to hospital as Covid-19 condition worsens"
.
NBC News
. 18 October 2020.
Archived
from the original on 18 October 2020
. Retrieved
18 October
2020
.
- ^
"No Change in the Health Condition of Saeb Erekat, Says Family"
. WAFA News Agency. 24 October 2020
. Retrieved
24 October
2020
.
- ^
"Saeb Erekat dies after coronavirus infection"
.
DW
. 10 November 2020.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2020
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
Black, Ian (10 November 2020).
"Saeb Erekat obituary"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
11 November
2020
.
- ^
Carey, Andrew (11 November 2020).
"Funeral ceremonies honor top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat"
.
cnn.com
. Retrieved
12 November
2020
.
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