After a protracted struggle, the Palestinian High Court has ordered the striking civil servants back to work. The court intervened in the strike after a presidential order issued by President ... More...
The Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah held an emergency session in Ramallah on Monday in response to the escalating crisis between the Palestinian Authority and the civil servan'ts union. Read news ... More...
The PLC is working on a law that would allow Israeli war criminals to be tried in Palestinian courts. According to Maan News, the proposal is being prepared by the ... More...
Imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti expects to win the next Palestinian presidential election. Read report here: Maan News, "Marwan Barghouthi expects to win next Palestinian presidential election," 6 April 2008, http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=28644 (accessed 6 April 2008). More...
According to Maan, Fatah's parliamentary block met Wednesday to discuss the Yemen initiative. This is tMaan's first report of such meetings this year. Read entire article: http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=28510. More...
According to Maan News Agency, the Hamas-led de facto government of the Gaza Strip is considering to appoint new ministers. Hamas leaders allegedly plan to submit the plan to the ... More...
Palestinian Justice minister in the caretaker cabinet, Ali Khashan, has participated in the 74th plenary session of the Venice Commission. There, he participated in a discussion on possible co-operation between the ... More...
On Wednesday March 13, Ramattan Press Agency in Ramallah was stormed by members of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service (PSS), and a journalist was arrrested. In a press release, the Palestinian ... More...
While the Palestinian Legislative Council has been conducting sessions in Gaza, it seems that the Palestinian government in Ramallah has established a High National Committee in order to produce ... More...
The head of the Palestinian Financial and Administrative Oversight Bureau, Mahmoud Abu Ar-Rub told Maan News Agency that PA institutions need major reconstruction. The 2006 annual report revealed a series ... More...
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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.
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.
