Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday to bid farewell to Saeb Erekat, the veteran negotiator who died from Covid-19 after decades pushing for a peace deal.
Three days of mourning have been declared by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who wore a face mask as his former advisor’s coffin arrived at the presidential compound in Ramallah.
Draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh, the coffin was carried through a plaza where officials and relatives waited as a band played on.
Erekat served as secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and was a key player in the Oslo accords of the 1990s and other peace talks.
The 65-year-old’s death on Tuesday was met with condolences from governments around the world, as well as the European Union and the United Nations.
“Today Palestine bids farewell to one of its fierce and passionate leaders,” the PLO’s negotiations department wrote on Twitter as it praised his “resilience and dedication”.
Following the ceremony in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, the procession carrying Erekat’s coffin drove past the PLO headquarters and on to the city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley.
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Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat gestures during the Palestinian National Council meeting in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on April 30, 2018. Reuters -
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat gestures as he speaks to foreign diplomats during a tour near Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Jaloud near Nablus on March 16, 2017. Reuters -
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat holds a map as he speaks to media about the Israeli plan to appropriate land, in Jordan Valley near the West Bank city of Jericho, on January 20, 2016. Reuters -
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat delivers an address at the Arab School in Santiago de Chile, Chile, on August 14, 2015. EPA -
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator, speaks at an Institute for National Security Studies forum in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 2, 2011. Reuters -
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator, speaks during a rally held upon his return from Cairo to the West Bank city of Jericho on January 25, 2011. Reuters -
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat wave before Mitchell's meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on October 1, 2010. Reuters -
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waves as she walks with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat upon her arrival for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on September 16, 2010. Reuters -
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat wave before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 6, 2007. Reuters -
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waves as she stands next to Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, upon her arrival for a meeting with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on October 17, 2007. Reuters -
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hamas politburo deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzouk in Damascus on January 21, 2007. Reuters -
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Vice Premier Shimon Peres attends a meeting with Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat in Tel Aviv on October 14, 2005. Reuters -
Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron and Chief Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat listen as a journalist asks a question in Ramallah, Palestine on the last day of his two-day tour of the area on March 2, 2007. Reuters -
US President Bill Clinton meets with Palestinian President Yassar Arafat and Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat during the third day of a Middle East summit at Camp David, July 14, 2000. Reuters -
United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan walks with Palestinian Peace Negotiator Saeb Erekat on his way to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on June 22, 2000. Reuters -
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, seated right, consults with Saeb Erekat, right, as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, seated left, sign a land-for-security agreement in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh as US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, background right, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, center background, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, left background, look on on September 5, 1999. AP Photo -
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat comforts a Palestinian girl whose father is being held in an Israeli jail as she tells her story to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, US President Bill Clinton, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on December 14, 1998. Reuters -
US special envoy Dennis Ross looks on as Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, and Dan Shomron, the chief Israeli negotiator, initial the documents that bring to a conclusion the long-delayed and overdue Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank city of Hebron, early January 15, 1997. Reuters
Mourners gathered outside Erekat’s home and accompanied the funeral procession, some carrying photos of him and clutching Palestinian flags. After prayers at a Jericho mosque, Erekat was buried in a cemetery lined with palm trees.
“To all the Palestinian people, my father is also your father and the father of the Palestinian cause,” his daughter Salam Erekat said by his graveside, her voice breaking into tears.
Her father died three weeks after being transferred to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, the city of his birth. Erekat was a particularly vulnerable patient as he underwent a lung transplant in 2017.
More than 70,000 coronavirus cases have been registered in the Palestinian territories, with 607 deaths, World Health Organisation figures show.
Wednesday’s funeral fell on the 16th anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom Erekat served as he pushed for a two-state solution with a viable Palestinian nation.
Clinching such a deal proved impossible in his later life, however, with no Israeli-Palestinian talks in recent years and a shift in US policy under President Donald Trump which sidelined the Palestinians.
The Trump administration unveiled a controversial peace plan earlier this year, which proposed a rump state for the Palestinians and swept aside their fundamental demands, including a capital in east Jerusalem.
There are hopes within the Palestinian leadership that Joe Biden, the US president-elect, could adopt a more conciliatory tone towards the Palestinians when he takes office in January.
Speaking of Erekat’s legacy, UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said “now is the time to continue his crucial work" and achieve a peace agreement.
In a note of condolence, Mr Guterres described Mr Erekat as a friend who was “dedicated to the peaceful pursuit of justice, dignity and the legitimate rights of Palestinians to self-determination, sovereignty and statehood.”
Agencies contributed to this report
