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
Jul 27, 20080

PCHR condemns mass arrests

The PCHR condemns mass arrests by Hamas supporters in the West Bank and Fatah supporters in Gaza respectively. In a press release Sunday, the PCHR expresses concern "that these arrests ...   More...

Jul 24, 20080

PCHR condemns detention of Mona Mansour

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Condemns the Detention of PLC Member Mona Mansour from the pro-hamas Change and Reform Party. The PCHR views the detention as "a continuation of ...   More...

Jul 14, 20080

PCHR criticizes Ministry of Interior for interfering with Women’s Arab Union elections

On 13 July Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza received a complaint from a candidate in the elections for the Administrative Board of the Arab Women's Union Association. ...   More...

Jul 8, 20080

Attorney General survives assassination attempt

Tuesday, a bomb detonated in the boot of Attorney General Ahmad al-Mghanni car in the Al-Maysoun neighbourhood of Ramallah. Al-Mghanni survived the bomb attac. Read: Maan News, "Palestinian Attorney General survives ...   More...

Jun 8, 20080

PCHR opposes nepotistic council appointments

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...

May 23, 20080

PCHR publishes 2007 annual report

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza has published its 2007 annual report in English. Section two covers Palestinian Violations of Human Rights and Obstacles to Democratic Reform A central topic is ...   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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