Following are excerpts from an interview with former PA minister Hassan Asfour, which aired on Mayadeen TV on September 13, 2012.
Hassan Asfour: "The Palestinian entity embodied by the PA constitutes an historic achievement for the Palestinian people.
"In addition, since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority, the Palestinian struggle has taken on a new dimension. Suffice to mention that the number of Israelis killed from the establishment of the PA until the killing of the leader Yasser Arafat was many times greater than in the previous period.
"I'd like to remind brother Maher Al-Taher that when the PA was already in existence, the 1996 Al-Aqsa Intifada took place, in which Israelis were killed.
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"Then in May 2000, before Camp David, there was a massive popular movement to mark May 15 and the plundering of Palestine. After that, the popular and military resistance to the occupation led to even more Israeli casualties than those killed in Lebanon.
"I think that over 2,000 Israelis were killed in a very short period of time.
"I challenge Hamas or the Jihad to name 10 operations that they carried out after the Palestinian rift and Hamas's rise to power. What role did the factions play in the political or armed Intifada after that?"
Interviewer: "This is an important point. Let me expand on that."
Hassan Asfour: "The notion of a Palestinian entity..."
Interviewer: "Excuse me... This is an important point..."
Hassan Asfour: "This is the true Palestinian Authority..."
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