Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Hasan
Muhammad Ahmad Asfour (April 24, 1950, Abasan in Khan Yunis Governorate -); Palestinian
politician.
His
upbringing and education
Hassan
Muhammad Ahmad Asfour was born on April 24, 1950 in the small town of Abasan,
Khan Yunis Governorate, east of the Gaza Strip. He graduated from the
University of Baghdad in Iraq with a major in agricultural engineering in 1973.
He also studied philosophy at the Institute of Social Research in Moscow during
the period 1977-1979.
his
personal life
Hassan
Asfour is married and has two daughters. The eldest daughter, Huda, holds a PhD
from George Washington University in Biomedical Engineering, and she is also a
musician. Dima works at the Palestine Mission in Geneva.
in
politics
Hassan
Asfour belonged to the Jordanian Communist Party in 1969, then to the
Palestinian Communist Party until 1994. He returned to Lebanon and worked in
the Palestinian media from 1979 to 1982. He was in charge of the news
department of the Palestinian Revolution Radio before and during the siege of
Beirut, then he left Lebanon for Syria. He was detained for periods in Iraq and
Syria. He was elected a member of the General Union of Palestinian Students as
a representative of the Palestinian Communist Party in 1984, and assumed the
functions of the Peace and Solidarity Directorate in the Department of Arab and
International Relations headed by Mahmoud Abbas in Tunis in 1987.
Hassan
Asfour is considered a Palestinian socialist who assumed a key role in the
secret Oslo talks in 1993. Because of his association with the Communist Party,
Asfour moved from one Arab country to another. He left Jordan in 1969 to travel
to Iraq, then he was forced to leave Iraq in 1975 to travel to Syria.
In
Syria, he was arrested to spend 16 months in prison, after which he was
deported in 1977 to Lebanon, where he settled until the Israeli invasion and
siege of Beirut in 1982, and after a while he settled in Tunisia, where he
became an active member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Initially, he
coordinated between Fatah and the Communist Party, then in 1987 he took over
the management of a branch of the organization. With time, he became one of
Yasser Arafat's close circle and coordinated the delegation to the Madrid
Conference in 1991. Asfour became a major negotiator in the Oslo Accords.
Asfour
published books, including a book entitled: “Hamas and the Kidnapping of Gaza”and another book entitled: “A State on the Waiting List.” He currently runs the
“Amad Media” website.
positions
and contributions
Member
of the Palestinian National Council from 1984 until 2018.
He
was appointed Secretary of the Negotiations Committee on the eve of the Madrid
Conference in Washington in 1991.
Participated
in the secret Oslo negotiations with Ahmed Qurei (January 1993 - August 1993).
Member
of the negotiation delegation in Taba, September 1993 - May 1994.
He
was appointed Director General of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, which was established in May 1994 and headed
by Mahmoud Abbas, a member of the Executive Committee.
He
returned to the Gaza Strip in May 1994 and established the Negotiations Affairs
Department in Palestine in May 1994 and continued as its coordinator until
1999.
He
was elected a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council after the
Palestinian general elections in 1996, when he obtained 12,761 votes in the
Khan Yunis district, representing the Fatah movement.
He
became a minister in the Palestinian National Authority in 1998, then minister
for negotiation affairs in 1999, and the position was modified to minister for NGO
affairs in 2000, in a ministry that is the first of its kind.
Participated
in the Wye River negotiations in 1998.
Participated
in the Camp David summit negotiations in 2000.
He
refused to appoint Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister in late 2002.
He
resigned after Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority
after the departure of President Yasser Arafat.
He
refused to hold legislative elections in 2006, considering it a political plot.
He
went to work in the private sector and in 2006 founded the Future Media House
as a comprehensive media institution.
Launched
the “AMD Media” website in April 2007 and became the general supervisor until
now.
source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To