Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian official who had led every Mideast peace negotiation since the Oslo Accords in the mid 1990s, died Tuesday after contracting COVID-19, Israels' Haaretz reports. He was 65 years old. Erekat had announced he was suffering from "difficult" COVID-19 symptoms in October, but said things were "under control." He got worse, and Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem said Monday that he was in critical condition and placed on a ventilator.
Erekat was born in East Jerusalem in 1955, and attended San Francisco State University at age 17. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in political science, then a Ph.D. in peace and conflict studies in England, Erekat returned to the West Bank to teach at the university. He was tapped to be a peace negotiator in 1991. Erekat had conflicts with Israeli negotiators but also with Palestinian leaders Yasser Arafat and then Mahmoud Abbas, both of whom rejected his resignation letters. He is survived by a wife and four children.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 27, 2024Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - natural gas, fundraising with Ted Cruz, and more
-
Aid to Ukraine: too little, too late?Talking Point House of Representatives finally 'met the moment' but some say it came too late
-
5 generously funny cartoons on the $60 billion foreign aid packageCartoons Artists take on Republican opposition, aid to Ukraine, and more
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical recordsSpeed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problemSpeed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levelsSpeed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
-
Vallance diaries: Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by Covid scienceSpeed Read Then PM struggled to get his head around key terms and stats, chief scientific advisor claims
-
An increasing number of dog owners are 'vaccine hesitant' about rabiesSpeed Read A new survey points to canine vaccine hesitancy
