Saeb Erekat

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Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (born 28 April 1955) is a Palestinian diplomat who served as the head of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until February 2012.

He negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel and remained the head negotiator from 1995 to May 2003, when he resigned in protest from the Palestinian government.

He later reconciled with the party and was recalled to the position in September 2003.

Personal life and education

Erekat was born in Abu Dis. He was a member of the Erekat family, which was itself a member of the Howeitat tribal confederation. Erekat was one of seven children, with his brothers and sisters who lived outside of Israel or Palestinian territories. He was 12 years old when the Israelis occupied the West Bank and was arrested a year later for posting anti-occupation graffiti, releasing fliers, and throwing stones.

Erekat immigrated from San Francisco, California, to attend college in 1972. He spent two years at City College of San Francisco, a two-year community college. He then went to San Francisco State University. Erekat received a bachelor's diploma in international relations (in 1977) and an MA in political science (in 1979). He earned his PhD in peace and conflict studies at the University of Bradford, England (in 1983).

Erekat was born in Neameh and was the father of twin daughters Dalal and Salam, as well as two sons Ali and Muhammad.

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Career

After gaining his doctorate in England, Erekat moved to the West Bank town of Nablus to lecture in political science at An-Najah National University and also served for 12 years on the editorial board of the locally widely circulated Palestinian newspaper, Al-Quds.

In 1991, Erekat was deputy head of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference and the subsequent follow-up talks in Washington D.C. between 1992 and 1993. In 1994, he was appointed the Minister for Local Government for the Palestinian National Authority and also the Chairman of the Palestinian negotiation delegation. In 1995, Erekat served as Chief Negotiator for the Palestinians during the Oslo period. He was then elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996, representing Jericho. As a politician, Erekat was considered to be a Yasser Arafat loyalist, including the Camp David meetings in 2000 and the negotiations at Taba in 2001. Erekat was also, along with Arafat and Faisal Husseini, one of the three high-ranking Palestinians who asked Ariel Sharon not to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 2000, an event which was followed by the Second Intifada. He also acted as Arafat's English interpreter. When Mahmoud Abbas was nominated to serve as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Legislative Council in early 2003, Erekat was slated to be Minister of Negotiations in the new cabinet, but he soon resigned after he was excluded from a delegation to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This was interpreted as part of an internal Palestinian power struggle between Abbas and Arafat. Erekat was later reappointed to his post and participated in the 2007 Annapolis Conference, where he took over from Ahmed Qurei during an impasse and helped hammer out a joint declaration.

He resigned from his post as chief negotiator on 12 February 2011 citing the release of the Palestine Papers. In July 2013, however, he was still holding the function. In 2015, he became the secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He later promoted a plan for the basis for new talks with international diplomats including Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and special adviser.

Erekat was one of the more prominent Palestinian spokespeople in the Western media. He wrote extensively in the media about Palestinian statehood, and was a vocal critic of the Trump administration's peace plan.

During the Second Intifada, he loudly criticized Israeli actions and characterized the IDF's 2002 assault in the Palestinian town of Jenin as a "massacre" and a "war crime", alleging that Israel has killed more than 500 Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp. After the incident was over, however, and the Palestinian death toll was actually recorded at between 53 and 56, mostly combatants, Erekat faced strong criticism in the United States.

Erekat at one time maintained good relations with his counterpart negotiators, in which Israeli justice minister Tsipi Livni mentioned that her talks with Erekat were always honest, and there was mutual respect despite frequent disagreements. In addition, Erekat took his American counterpart, Martin Indyk, on a tour of Hisham's Palace near Jericho.

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