Saeb Erekat, 65, chief Palestinian negotiator and longtime leader in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), passed away on Tuesday following a month-long battle with COVID-19.
Saeb Erekat, 65, Secretary-General of the PLO, is reportedly in critical condition after contracting COVID-19 earlier this month. Israeli Knesset members condemned the decision to admit Erekat to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, saying that Israel should have demanded Palestinian political concessions in exchange for his treatment.
After US Ambassador David Friedman said Israel has a right to annex parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it may file a complaint with the International Criminal Court. “What reasoning could justify Friedman’s logic? International law prohibits the annexation of a land by force,” it said.
The US Government today folded the former US consulate in Jerusalem, which served Palestinians, into the Embassy led by ambassador and settler-advocate David Friedman in what Hanan Ashrawi of the PLO called “an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity.”
In a leaked recording released this week, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat slammed Palestinian president…