A majority of Palestinians support President Mahmoud Abbas not to run in future Palestinian elections. This is one of the main findings in a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center ... More...
President Mahmoud Abbas states that he will stay on as President until new elections are held, but repeats that he will not stand for reelection. Elections were originally slated for ... More...
Thousands of Palestinians from various factions took to the streets in Nablus on Friday to support President Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian president. Hamas argues that Abbas' term expires on Friday 9 ... More...
If Hamas prevents the ballot from taking place in Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas might hold presidential and parliamentary elections in the West Bank alone. Abbas has stated his intentions to hold ... More...
If Fatah and Hamas do not reconcile by the end of the year, President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that he will call for elections in 2009. «If the dialogue does ... More...
An Israeli defense establishment paper to be presented to the cabinet next month warns that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may «disappear» from the political arena after his presidential term expires ... More...
Hamas leader and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahhar reiterates that Hamas will not recognize an extension of President Mahmoud Abbas tenure after his current term ends on 9 January 2009. Read: Maan News, ... More...
Israel needs to prepare for a situation in which President Mahmoud Abbas cannot negotiate by January 2009 because of the eroding legitimacy after his tenure expires, states Israeli analyst. Fatah ... More...
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction has rejected a request by Hamas rivals to meet separately, without the presence of the other 11 Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) factions, ahead of multi-factional ... More...
Hamas-affiliated legal officials reassert that it is “unconstitutional” for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to extend his term for “even one more day” beyond 8 January 2009. The head of the legal committee ... 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.
