Saeb Erekat, 65, Secretary-General of the PLO, is reportedly in critical condition after contracting COVID-19 earlier this month.
After announcing that he contracted the virus on October 8th, the veteran Palestinian negotiator was moved on Sunday from his home in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
According to a statement from the hospital spokesperson, Erekat “arrived in serious condition” and was receiving oxygen.
By Monday, hospital officials said Erekat was put on a ventilator and placed in a medically induced coma. “We have consulted with specialists from Tel Aviv, New York and Washington,” the hospital’s spokesperson said, adding that Erekat’s “prognosis remains very guarded.”
Concerns over Erekat’s condition arose at the time of his COVID-19 diagnosis, given his complex medical history.
In 2017, Erekat underwent a lung transplant in the United States, leaving him with a weakened immune system. Years earlier in 2012 Erekat suffered from a heart attack, making him an extremely high-risk coronavirus patient.
“As a transplant patient, Mr. Erekat’s case is highly complex. Hadassah’s top physicians are overseeing his care and are conferring with international medical professionals regarding this type of complex patient care policy,’ the hospital said.
Israel Hayom reported allegations that Erekat’s family were “told they should come say goodbye on Monday after his condition became critical,” though Israel Hayom “could not independently confirm this.”
News of Erekat’s worsening condition has overwhelmed local Palestinian and Israeli news outlets, as speculation over what his prognosis could mean for the Palestinian leadership and internaitonal and regional efforts to promote Palestinian statehood and sovereignty.
A top advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Erekat has been at the forefront of Palestinian negotiations for decades, and most recently led negotiations with the current US adminsitration prior to the severing of diplomatic ties between the PA and the US in late 2017.
One of the most prominent Palestinian leaders on the international stage, Erekat has been a longtime proponent of the two-state solution, and in recent years has grown increasingly critical of the US government under President Donald Trump and the latters support for Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israelis protest Erekat’s treatment
In the wake of Erekat’s hospitalization, amid condolences from regional and international leaders, one of the loudest responses to his COVID-19 diagnosis has been from Israelis themselves, many of whom don’t believe Erekat should be receiving treatment in an Israeli hospital.
On Twitter, many of the top tweets under the hashtag for Saeb Erekat are from Israeli voices on social media, wishing death upon Erekat and mocking the PA for sending one of their top officials for treatment in Israel.
A popular Hasbara talking point on social media has focused on the fact that Erekat, a longtime critic of the Israeli occupation, is seeking medical treatment at an Israeli hospital.
In what seems to be an iteration of this trope, one Twitter user wrote; “Top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who called Israel apartheid is now suffering from COVID-19. To whom did the Palestinian Authority turn for help? Israel,’ along with a meme showing Erekat criticizing Israeli Apartheid in one photo, while being treated by “the best Jewish doctors” in the next photo.
Some Israeli protesters even went as far as to protest with signs in front of Hadassah hospital against Erekat receiving treatment there.
A number of Israeli MKs, members of Israeli parliament, the Knesset, condemned the decision to admit Erekat to Hadassah hospital, saying that Israel should have demanded Palestinian political concessions in exchange for Erekat’s treatment.
The Times of Israel reported that MKs from both the governing coalition and opposition said that ‘Israel should have demanded that the Hamas terror group in Gaza first return the civilian captives and the soldiers’ bodies it is holding.”
Following Erekat’s admission to Hadassah, rumors swirled of efforts on part of the PA to downplay the decision to admit him to an Israeli hospital, with many local news outlets highlighting the fact that due to COVID-19 lockdowns, attempting to get Erekat transferred abroad to neighboring Arab countries, for example, would have taken more time — time that Erekat may not have.
While Zionists lamented Erekat for seeking “the finest medical care” in Israel, a type of care that could not be found in the occupied West Bank, critics were quick to point out the role that Israel’s military occupation has played in the deterioration and stagnation of Palestinian hospitals and public health infrastructure.
Others pointed to the fact that, under international law, Israel is required as the occupier to provide healthcare for the population it occupies — a right rarely ever recognized or practiced by the Israeli state.
Let’s hope Saeb Erekat pulls through. If not, its still a big plus positive that he was respected. If he does, he may indicate respect to the state for not putting down conditions and will likely show respect for the medical team who pulled him through. Either way, a show of mutual respect will move matters toward a foundation on which Israeli/Palestinian respect can evolve and develop.
On NPR yesterday, Daniel Esterin did a piece saying Nabil Shaaf’s wife posted she hoped Trump wouldn’t make it home from Walter Reed. Its one thing to wish death and another to publicly say so. Was she unaware of protocol, politics. That her words would reflect on all Palestinian people? She was also insensitive to Palestine’s support system.
Individuals I’ve known with chips on their shoulder have often responded in self destructive ways, making matters worse all around. She, in her indignation became part of everyone’s problem
Following Oslo, no sovereign Palestinian state was established so, as the occupying power, Israel may have remained responsible under international law for ensuring the health and well-being of Palestinians. Yet, under the framework of the agreement, Israel was able to release itself from this responsibility.
As a result, the Palestinian Ministry of Health as part of the Palestinian Authority, inherited the health services of the West Bank and Gaza. Over the next 20 years, with the support of massive funding from international donors, the PA has managed to develop a health system with a reasonable spread of primary care clinics and hospitals across the West Bank and Gaza.
You can’t keep on blaming Israel for everything even though you might like to.
There’s nothing inconsistent about criticizing the apartheid regime in the Occupied Territories but seeking urgent medical care in an Israeli hospital. The Campaign for BDS asks those of us who have a choice whether to engage with Occupation goods and services not to do so. But it specifically recognises that Palestinians under occupation – whose own infrastructures are underdeveloped or de-developed by Israel, and who are a captive market for Israeli goods and services – don’t have the same easy choice that we do. So the BDS movement asks them to use/buy non-Israeli when they can, but opt for Israeli when they must.
This case seems entirely consistent with what BDS requires of Palestinians under Occupation. You have a patient with COVID-19 who goes into sudden decline, needs access to oxygen and who is probably – due to lung transplant status – going to need a ventilator. His doctor calls every hospital in the West Bank, but none has one available. The two options that can treat him are Hadassah, and the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, which offers him treatment but will take him twice as long to get to, ad his doctor isn’t sure he has that much time to spare. So the only realistic medical option is Hadassah. That fits entirely with the call for Palestinians to use/buy non-Israeli when they can, but opt for Israeli when they must.
You can want to be free of apartheid, but also want to receive medical care for COVID-19. It’s not an either/or.