PLC Members and Law Experts Call for Drafting Laws and Legislations for Regulating the Work of the Three Authority Branches

December 26, 2006

 AMAN Coalition in cooperation with MUWATIN had organized a working session in Al-Bireh on December 26, 2006. The session aimed at reviewing a report by Mr. Ahmad Abu Dayeh, a researcher contracted by AMAN Coalition, entitled “Legislative Authority and the Need for a Balanced and Clear Separation between Branches of the Government in the Palestinian Political System”. The report is one of a series of reports by AMAN and MUWATIN on the separation between the branches of the government in the Palestinian political system.    

PLC members and law experts, attending the session, stressed the importance of drafting laws and legislations for regulating the work of the three authority branches; legislative, executive, and judiciary. Such laws would help promote systems of transparency and accountability at these branches through defining roles and responsibilities for each branch. 

 Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, General Coordinator AMAN Coalition, opened the session by stressing the importance of such a report and hoped that the session would result in clear recommendations that would further develop the report into a comprehensive study of the Palestinian Legislative System. He pointed to the complexities and the internal and external pressure that preceded the drafting of the Palestinian Basic Law which had negatively weakened the role played by the PLC in monitoring the implementation of its legislations.

 Participants agreed that there is a need for a comprehensive legislative reform as well as a reform in the Palestinian electoral system. They stressed that there should be consistency between legislations made by the PLC, on the one hand, and the government’s priorities on the other. Civil Society Organizations should be active in exerting pressure on the legislative and executive authorities so that one does not overrule the other. A law that clearly separates between the three powers should be enacted. It was also suggested that a legal department should be established to look into conflicts that occur between the different branches. Also, there should be a clear definition for the roles and responsibilities of the Palestinian National Authority vis-a- vis the Palestinian Liberation Organizations.