Long-standing Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat dies aged 65

Saeb Erekat has died aged 65 (AP)

Saeb Erekat, a veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades, has died weeks after being infected by the coronavirus. He was 65.

The US-educated Mr Erekat was involved in nearly every round of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians going back to the landmark Madrid conference in 1991, when he famously showed up draped in a black-and-white chequered keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.