Palestinian Basic Law
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The Palestinian Basic Law

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

News & updates

Fayyad will not run for presidency


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Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the caretaker cabinet in Ramallah, says that he does not intend to run for president. Read: Palestine Media Center, "Palestinian PM Fayyad: ‘I Will Not Run ...   More...

PLC member Mariam Salih released


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Marian Salih, Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council was freed Sunday after seven months in administrative detention, according to Maan News. Several PLC members are still in Israeli jails. Read: ...   More...

Reconciliation committee calls for technocrat cabinet


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A Palestinian National Reconciliation Committee consisting of professionals, academics and civil society leaders based in Gaza has been working behind the scenes to help resolve the disputes between Hamas and ...   More...

Mustafa Barghouti: Both governments are illegal


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Former presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti states in an interview with Maan News Agency that both the caretaker cabinet in the West Bank and the de facto cabinet in Gaza are illegal. ...   More...

Abbas overtakes Haniyeh in poll


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The popularity of Hamas has decreased in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of the year. According to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for ...   More...

West Bank PLC members adopt work plan


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Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in Ramallah has adopted a work plan to reactivate the PLC, which has been dysfunctional since the collapse of the unity cabinet in ...   More...

PCHR opposes nepotistic council appointments


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The Ministry of Local Government of the de facto cabinet in Gaza has dismissed the appointed municipality council in Khan Yunis and appoint a new council. The new council began operating on 7 ...   More...

West Bank parliamentarians to meet twice a month


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30 representatives of the different parliamentary blocs except the Reform and Change bloc met at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) building in Ramallah to confirm their support for a national ...   More...

Abbas repeats call for elections


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Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas has called for an unconditional dialogue with Hamas and a national dialogue to implement the Yemeni initiative. In a televised speech, Abbas repeated his intent to hold ...   More...

Haniyeh appoints new ministers


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A number of new ministers are set to join the de facto cabinet in Gaza. Among others, Said Siyam, who was interior minister in the first Haniyeh cabinet, is reassigned ...   More...

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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.

Information and contact details.