Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator, passed away on Tuesday from coronavirus.

Erekat first came into prominence in 1991, when he was appointed deputy head of the Palestinian negotiating delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference.

Born on 1955 in the village of Abu Dis, south of Jerusalem, Erekat later played an active role in the peace talks with Israel in 1992 and 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the PLO.

He was one of the few local Palestinian leaders who never spent a day in Israeli prison for terror-related offences.