‘A big loss’ for hopes of peace
Saeb Erekat, a veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesperson for the Palestinians for more than three decades, has died, weeks after being infected by the coronavirus. He was 65.
The American-educated Erekat was involved in nearly every round of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians going back to the landmark Madrid conference in 1991. Over the years, he was a constant media presence. He tirelessly argued for a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, defended the Palestinian leadership and blamed Israel — particularly hard-line leader Benjamin Netanyahu — for the failure to reach an agreement.
As a loyal aide to Palestinian leaders — first Yasser Arafat and then Mahmoud Abbas — Erekat clung to this strategy until his death, even as hopes for Palestinian statehood sank to new lows.
In the weeks leading up to his death in an Israeli hospital, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had normalized ties with Israel, breaking with the longheld Arab position that a deal on Palestinian statehood must precede normalization.
Abbas and members of his inner circle, including Erekat, found themselves internationally sidelined and deeply unpopular among Palestinians. And decades of unfettered Israeli settlement expansion had made a statehood deal based on the partition of territory increasingly unlikely.
Erekat died at the Hadassah Medical Center, the Israeli hospital where he was brought in critical condition last month. He had received a lung transplant in the U.S. in 2017 and was at high risk from the virus.
Abbas said Erekat’s death was a “great loss for Palestine and our people, and we feel deeply saddened by his loss, especially in light of these difficult circumstances facing the Palestinian cause.”
Abbas said flags will be flown at half-staff for three days. Erekat’s body was brought to a West Bank hospital and was to be laid to rest in Jericho on Wednesday.
Tributes poured in from world diplomats, including former Israeli and American peace negotiators.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Erekat “was dedicated to the peaceful pursuit of justice, dignity and the legitimate rights of Palestinians to self-determination, sovereignty and statehood.”
“No one believed in the possibility of a two-state solution as ardently as he did; no one fought for it with greater conviction & obstinacy,” tweeted Robert Malley, a senior adviser on the Middle East in the Obama administration.
Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli Cabinet minister and peace negotiator, called Erekat’s death “a big loss for those who believe in peace, both on the Palestinian side and the Israeli side.”