PLO Secretary General in critical condition with Covid-19

The Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee, Dr Saeb Erekat, is in a critical condition having contracted Covid-19 last week and has now been placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit. The 65-year-old was rushed to the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem from his home in Jericho in the occupied West Bank yesterday.

“Mr Erekat had a quiet night but this morning his condition deteriorated, and it is now defined as critical,” the Israeli hospital’s spokeswoman, Hadar Elboim, confirmed today. Hadassah, she pointed out, is “in contact with international medical authorities regarding the treatment policy of this complex patient. Due to respiratory distress, he was put on a ventilator and placed in a medically-induced coma.”

Erekat was born in 1955 in Abu Dis and holds a PhD in Peace Studies. He was the Minister of Local Governance in the first Palestinian Authority government. In 2009, he was elected as a member of the Fatah Central Committee and the PLO Executive Committee. His nomination as Secretary-General was made by PLO President Mahmoud Abbas.

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