Palestinian Basic Law
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The Palestinian Basic Law

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

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Nov 10, 20090

Nathan J. Brown: “After Abu Mazin? Letting the Scales Fall From Our Eyes”


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Nathan J. Brown,  Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment's Middle East programme, argues the US administration should focus less on personalities and more on building a viable Palestinian Authority. Read: Nathan ...   More...

Jun 30, 20090

Natan J. Brown on the practical consequences of ignoring the Basic Law


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"The split between the two halves of the Palestinian Authority has steadily eroded the legitimacy of the Ramallah government. Any policy based on the hope that Abbas and Fayyad will ...   More...

Nov 4, 20080

Brown: Institutional decay remains obstacle to peace


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Deep divisions and institutional decay on the Palestinian side remain the most daunting obstacles to peace, Nathan J. Brown concludes in a web commentary. Ongoing Palestinian unity talks brokered by ...   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.

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