He was also a spokesman for Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat and current President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas declared three days of mourning, calling his death a quote.

Big loss for Palestine on our people.

He died following multiple organ failure after spending three weeks at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center.

According to a spokeswoman for the Israeli hospital, he was particularly vulnerable to the respiratory disease.

Having undergone a lung transplant in the United States three years earlier, Erekat was well known in diplomatic circles across the world on regularly featured in international media.

In recent years, he was the principal face of a war of words with President Donald Trump's administration over a Middle East plan that envisioned leaving Israel in control of Jewish settlements on large parts of the occupied West Bank.

After peace talks collapsed in 2000 and 14, he remained a firm backer of the negotiated creation of a future Palestinian state co existing alongside Israel even if, in his own words, it took 50 years.

His funeral is expected to be held on Wednesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, where he spent much of his early years.