In a groundbreaking event in the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinian lawyers took to the streets to protest against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ ongoing “rule by decree” in the absence of parliament. While this may appear to be a positive development to anyone who supports democracy and rule of law, it isn’t as it may seem in a territory that is committed to Islamic jihad against Israel, and in a region where Muslim Brotherhood offshoot Hamas is waiting in the wings for the day when the 87-year-old Abbas finally leaves office or dies. Abbas certainly will not be fazed by protests, given the history of why he dissolved parliament in the first place.
In the last Palestinian legislative elections, held back in 2006, Hamas won a sweeping majority of parliamentary seats — 74 of the 132 — in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. At that time, violent factional fighting erupted, as Fatah and Hamas couldn’t reach a power-sharing agreement. The Palestinian Territories subsequently divided into Hamas-ruled Gaza, and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), led by the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah movement.
Twelve years later, in 2018, the 83-year-old Abbas came up with a plan for the future, as an attempt to stymie Hamas and prevent it from ever taking over full leadership of the “Palestinians.” His problem:
Under P.A. law, should the president leave office without a successor, the Speaker of the Parliament takes over as president of the Palestinian Authority for two months, after which presidential elections are held. The current Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament is Aziz Al-Dweik from Hamas. So under P.A. law Hamas would rule the P.A., should Abbas leave his position.
So in the event of a dissolution of parliament, which Abbas accomplished in 2018, there was now no “Speaker” of the parliament to replace him, thus making it more difficult for Hamas to take control of the PA.
Abbas was so easily able to to do this because of “a ruling by the fairly new Palestinian Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC),” a body that “quickly earned a reputation for issuing whatever rulings the president needs at a particular time.” Going a step further, right after Abbas called for the dissolution of parliament, “the court received a request from the head of the Judicial Council — himself appointed by Abbas — to interpret a provision of the interim constitution.”
Since 2006, Abbas has ruled by decree. Last year, during Israel’s defensive Operation Guardian of the Walls — a response to a barrage of Hamas rocket fire — a Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll indicated overwhelming support among Palestinians for Hamas over Abbas’ PA. The findings of the poll showed that 53% of Palestinians believed that Hamas was “most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people,” while only 14% supported Abbas’ Fatah.
While the new opposition from the Palestinian Bar Association appears to be good news, given the history of Abbas’ dictatorship, his vision of a Palestinian state in which “not a single Israeli” will be permitted to be on “our lands,” rule by Hamas will be worse. It will not only legitimize the most violent wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, but it will have impact all around the region. Hamas is heavily supported by Qatar and Turkey.
“Palestinian lawyers protest against Abbas governing by ‘decree,’” Al Jazeera, July 25, 2022:
Hundreds of Palestinian lawyers have held a rare street protest in the occupied West Bank against the Palestinian Authority’s “rule by decree”, condemning President Mahmoud Abbas for governing without a parliament.
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) – created under the Oslo Accords with Israel – has been inactive since 2007, meaning Abbas has led without a functioning parliament for nearly all of his tenure as president.
But a new leadership at the Palestinian Bar Association has sought to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The association’s President Suheil Ashour told AFP news agency at the protest in the city of Ramallah on Monday that his body would stand firm against legislation delivered by presidential decree that curbed Palestinian “rights and freedoms”.
“Our demand is either to stop their implementation now or to cancel” a raft of restrictive laws, said Ashour, who pushed for reforms when he was elected association president earlier this year….
Riot police prevented the demonstrators, clad in their black robes, from entering the building housing the office of Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh….
Rarely says
All to often it’s “better the Devil you know”.
mortimer says
Egg-zact-ly.
mortimer says
What’s the problem with these uppity lawyers anyway? Didn’t they get their monster homes in Cyprus yet?
That’s easy to fix. Abbas just has to write a check to a construction company in Cyprus. That should be all these lawyers need. The other Pally leaders have already been paid off.
Eventually, ALL Pallies will own monster homes in Cyprus.
Infidel says
Why would Cyprus open its doors to Palis? Haven’t they learned enough from Turkey devouring the northern half of their country?
mortimer says
The new Palestinian Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) will eventually turn into a Palestinian Supreme Sharia Court (SSC) and then the heads and hands will be flying off in all directions.
The people who most deserve are the KLEPTOCRATS of the Pally leadership. They’ve stolen more public money than perhaps any group until Putin’s OLIGARCHS.
mortimer says
Sharia law states that THIEVES should have their hands amputated. That would certainly apply to supreme oligarch ABBAS, the chief of Pally thieves.
It has been estimated that Mahmoud Abbas’s net worth is in excess of $100 million.
His private jet alone cost $50 million and the PA chairman’s two sons, Tareq and Yasser, own an economic empire in the territories worth hundreds of millions of dollars
Billions of dollars in aid are diverted straight into the Abbas family bank accounts.
Forensic accounting will reveal how much Abbas’ family has stolen from the public purse.
gravenimage says
Palestinian lawyers protest against Abbas’ governing ‘by decree’
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Trouble in “paradise”?
Shalom says
It takes real skill to explain the politics of this area in such a clear, easy to understand way. The way Israel sees it — Better the devil you know. Any replacement ( as much as I dearly wish otherwise) is going to be far, far worse.