Saeb Erekat's Health Condition Is Stable

The Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat's family revealed that he remained in critical but stable condition in an Israeli hospital Tuesday after he was infected with the coronavirus.

In press statements to WAFA Palestinian news agency, Erekat family said that he was receiving artificial respiration in the intensive care unit at Israel's Hadassah Medical Center.

A member of Fatah, the most powerful faction within the PLO, Erekat has been one of the most high-profile faces of the Palestinian leadership for decades, especially to international audiences.

Erekat, 65, has been receiving medical care at home since disclosing on October 8 that he had contracted the virus.

The former Palestinian chief negotiator and architect of the Oslo Accords (1993-95) with Israel suffered a heart attack in 2012 and in 2017 received a lung transplant.

There is heightened concern over Erekat’s vulnerability because he underwent a lung transplant in the United States in 2017. Witnesses said Erekat was on a stretcher when he was placed inside an Israeli ambulance outside his home in Jericho.