SAEB EREKAT

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

Born in the village of Abu Dis in 1955, in Palestinian-controlled territory abutting Jerusalem, Erekat was the son of prominent Palestinian parents. He was buried with full military honors in Jericho after a state ceremony at the Palestinian Authority Compound in Ramallah. Some observers who have watched Israel make its own peace in the Middle East regret that Erekat didn’t accomplish what he claimed to crave. Among the potential candidates to replace Erekat in the Palestinian power structure, West Bank Security Chief Majed Faraj has been named a leading contender. (Edited by Daniel Kucin Jr. and David Matthew)The post Increasingly Isolated Palestinian Elite Lose Top Negotiator with Death of Saeb Erekat appeared first on Zenger News.

Long after peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down, Saeb Erekat continued to be referred to as the Palestinians’ chief negotiator. Erekat’s Fatah party announced his death, which was also confirmed by a relative and a Palestinian official, the Associated Press reported. Notwithstanding his longevity on the Palestinian political scene, Erekat was never tainted by the suspicions of corruption or malfeasance that plague most of the Palestinian leadership. “If he leaves and walks around with his pals after school they’ll throw rocks on your kids,” Beilin recalled Erekat telling him. AdvertisementStaff writer Wilkinson, who served as Jerusalem bureau chief from 1998-2003, reported from Washington, and special correspondent Tarnopolsky from Jerusalem.

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2011 file photo, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, speaks during a press conference at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Erekat, a veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades, has died Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Erekat's body was brought to a West Bank hospital and was to be laid to rest in Jericho on Wednesday. He spent most of his life in the occupied West Bank town of Jericho, a palm-studded desert oasis about 30 minutes from Jerusalem. ___Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh and Haitham Hamad in Ramallah, West Bank, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.