Veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat dies at 65
Erekat, who contracted the coronavirus last month, died in a Jerusalem hospital on Tuesday.
![1183354951 Saeb Erekat (R), Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and chief Palestinian negotiator, speaks during a press conference in the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah on November 19, 2019. - Israelis reacted joyfully on November 19 to the United States's announcement it no longer considers settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem illegal, but the Palestinians pledged fresh measures to oppose the declaration. Erekat said it was only the latest move by the US to try and forc](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2020/11/GettyImages-1183354951.jpg/GettyImages-1183354951.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=P2ZOwR_k)
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who acted as chief architect for decades of negotiations with the Israelis, died Tuesday following complications from the novel coronavirus.
In October, his office announced that Erekat had been infected with COVID-19 and taken to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment. The 65-year-old had already suffered significant health problems before contracting the virus, and in 2017 received a lung transplant in the United States.