Expressions like ‘a great loss’ or ‘a void’ are often used when a well-known person dies. Most such tributes are a matter of protocol. The obituary doesn’t mean what it says. That was not the case with Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation), who on 10 November died of Covid-19.
Saeb Erekat, 65, was better known as the Chief Palestinian
Negotiator. For the last thirty years, he was part of every negotiation. He
was a spokesman, and the single-point organizational memory of the whole
negotiating process for the Palestinians. Against all odds, he had managed to leave
Palestine for a university education. He was fluent in English following his
double graduation in the USA and doctorate in the UK. He was also articulate
and witty.
“I try to understand the Israelis’ fears and
aspirations, but they can get too complicated for me. Every day, there’s
something going on, like the cats outside my window at night, and I never know
if they’re making love or fighting or both.” He said in an interview.
Fighting against an occupying, land-grabbing Israeli
state, supported by its veto-powered sponsor USA, Erekat was dealt a bad hand. He
called himself “the most disadvantaged negotiator since Adam negotiated with Eve.”
(My detailed five-part series analyzing the history of the Israel Palestine conflict
is here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It explains how Israel is an occupying power engaged in
modern apartheid).
Though Israeli politicians and population thought of
him as firebrand, Erekat supported peace and non-violence. He was the man in a suit
carrying a briefcase, making his arguments rationally, and sticking to his
demands with little bargaining power. He was instrumental in negotiating the Oslo
accord (1995), Hebron protocol (1997) and the Wye river memorandum (1998), all
three of them transferring some Israeli-controlled territory to the
Palestinians.
“As a Palestinian father,” he repeatedly said, “I want
my children to be journalists and schoolteachers and professors and musicians.
I don’t want them to be suicide bombers. But in order to do so, I need to
provide hope that they will live in freedom away from occupation.”
*****
More than a month ago, he tested positive for
Covid-19. As someone with a lung transplant, he was in the high-risk category.
When an ambulance carried him to the Hadassah Ein
Karem hospital in Jerusalem, protestors gathered outside. “Let him die”
read one poster. Social media champions on both sides called him a ‘hypocrite’
for taking treatment from the enemy. (Palestine doesn’t have a hospital which
could have treated his condition). Newspaper columnists openly condemned
hosting an enemy and treating him. Some people accused Erekat of occupying a
bed that an Israeli patient could have had.
Fortunately, Israel still has people who can deal with
others as human beings. Israeli negotiator Gilead Sher called Erekat a
respectable, remarkable human being. The hospital director emphasized a ground
reality, “We have Arab doctors and Jewish doctors, Arab nurses and Jewish
nurses taking care of all patients without fear or favour.”
Erekat’s hospital treatment needed approval from the
Israeli government. Some parliament members asked Netanyahu to negotiate concessions
in exchange of treatment. Benny Gantz, the defence minister, ignored his
colleagues and decided to allow unconditional care for Erekat.
Enmity and hatred are amplified by politicians, not citizens.
On Erekat’s death, neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor the Israeli President Reuven
Rivlin offered any condolences, not even a tweet.
*****
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is 85 and
not in good health. Saeb Erekat, twenty years younger, had an excellent chance
to replace him. With Biden replacing Trump, hopes for a Palestinian state could
have been revived. Instead, the ailing Abbas himself will now replace Erekat as
a negotiator.
Erekat falling a victim to Covid-19 is a true tragedy
for the Palestinian cause.
Ravi
Yes a real tragedy
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