Alum Saeb Erekat is a Candidate for Palestinian Authority Chairman

i24 NEWS (ISRAEL) -- Saeb Erekat is a member of one of the largest and strongest families in the West Bank. He grew up in Jericho where he was arrested for the first time at the age of 13 after participating in a demonstration against the Israeli government. Later, he was sentenced to house arrest during the first intifada (1987 – 1990) but was not a member of Palestinian groups involved in terror-related activity. After graduating high school he traveled to the United States, where he studied Political Science and International Relations at San Francisco State University. Upon his return in 1979 he began teaching at Al-Najah University in Nablus and was also responsible for the institution's foreign relations as well as contact with both Israeli and foreign journalists.