Palestinian Basic Law
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The Palestinian Basic Law

A collection of various propsals and amendments to the Basic Law of Palestine.

HRW: Report highlights abuse on both sides

A new report by the New York based human rights group Human Rights Watch points to abuse by both Fatah and Hamas. The report titled “Internal Fight: Palestinian Abuses in Gaza and the West Bank,” documents a pattern of serious abuses by Hamas against Fatah in Gaza, and by Fatah against Hamas in the West Bank, since June 2007, when Hamas took control in Gaza. These abuses amount to violations of the Palestinian Basic Law.

Read press release here: “Occupied Palestinian Territories: New Arrests Highlight Abuses by Hamas, Fatah,” 30 July 2008, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/30/isrlpa19482.htm

Download report: Human Rights Watch,  “Internal Fight: Palestinian Abuses in Gaza and the West Bank,” 30 July 2008, http://hrw.org/reports/2008/iopt0708/

Read: Reuters Alertnet, “Occupied Palestinian Territories: New Arrests Highlight Abuses by Hamas, Fatah,” 30 July 2008.

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Facts about the Basic Law

The Palestinian Basic Law is to function as a temporary constitution for the Palestinian Authority until the establishment of an independent state and a permanent constitution for Palestine can be achieved.

The Basic Law was passed by the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1997 and ratified by President Yasser Arafat in 2002. It has subsequently been amended twice; in 2003 the political system was changed to introduce a prime minister. In 2005 it was amended to conform to the new Election Law. The 2003 reform was comprehensive and affected the whole nature of the Palestinian political system, whereas the 2005 amendment was only minor and affected only a few paragraphs.

A parallel effort has been made to draft a permanent Palestinian constitution for an independent state, but this was shelved in favor of amending the existing Basic Law.


About this site

This website presents a collection of various drafts and amendments related to the Basic Law and other constitutional texts that have been compiled from various other sources.

You can also expect to find links to news items and reports that are of relevance to Palestinian constitutional law, the electoral framework, political reform and the PA branches of government.

The website was created by the Norwegian journalists Erik Bolstad and Tonje M. Viken in February 2008. The site is a private initiative and has no affiliation to any organizations or authorities.

All external links are purely for information purposes and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of this site.

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