Palestinian Peace Negotiator Saeb Erekat Dies of COVID as Virus Rips Through Occupied Territories

Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has died at 65 after he became infected with COVID-19.

Erekat was a key Palestinian negotiator involved in peace talks for over three decades and stood in staunch opposition to the Trump administration's Middle East plan, which he called the "fraud of the century," and condemned recent agreements normalizing relations between Israel and Gulf nations.

"One must really reflect and admire the tireless commitment he had to communicating the Palestinian cause as best he saw fit … and the important voice that he brought to the conversation at a time when many people around the world had not really heard from Palestinians, particularly Palestinians living in Palestine, on the ground,"

says Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer.

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