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Paper Criticizes of Palestinian Constitutional Court Law

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 12:00 CST

Text of editorial headlined "The beginning of tension between Abbas and Hamas" published by London-based newspaper Al-Quds al- Arabi website on 14 February

The main credit for the huge political earthquake represented by Hamas's win in the recent Palestinian legislative elections goes to two main parties: the first is the people of the occupied territories, who demonstrated a high degree of awareness and decided to punish corrupt officials and adhere to national constants by overwhelmingly voting for Hamas candidates. The second is the Palestinian [National] Authority's [PNA] party, Fatah, which insisted on going ahead with the elections despite its advance knowledge of the possibility of its losing its absolute majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

There is no arguing with the fact that the Palestinian people in the occupied territories are politically mature. They chose the Islamic trend, which is closer to their conscience, which has a purer hand, and which adheres to constants. There are those who argue that PNA Chairman Mahmud Abbas's decision to go ahead with the elections was primarily due to US pressure, because their postponement for the second time would have embarrassed Washington and undermined the credibility of its claims about its concern for democracy and reform in the Arab world.

Yesterday, President Abbas took a pre-emptive step designed to obstruct Hamas's assumption of responsibility for Palestinian decision-making in its capacity as the majority bloc in the PLC. He convened a meeting of the Fatah-dominated outgoing parliament, which approved an amendment to the Constitutional Court Law that will give Abbas the authority to appoint judges to that court without seeking legislative approval.

In practice, this amendment abolishes the independence of the judiciary because it makes the judges of the Constitutional Court, which is supposed to be the honest custodian of the Palestinian political and judicial march, directly subordinate to the president. This is a dangerous amendment by all measurements that must not pass by easily.

The PLC members, who approved this amendment five days before the new parliament convenes, have betrayed the trust invested in them by those who voted for them. They have proved that they were a mere decor and a rubber stamp, approving what their masters want - not what the people's interest requires or what their role requires them to be as an authority that exercises control over the executive power, i.e. the government and the PNA chairman.

Such illegal steps cannot create an appropriate climate for advancing the democratic process and the peaceful alternation of power though elections. Such steps might lead to a phase of confrontations between Fatah, which lost the recent elections, and a triumphant Hamas. The big loser will be the Palestinian people.

Hamas Political Bureau head Khalid Mish'al has warned Abbas and the PLC against issuing any new laws and against exploiting the short transition period, which could lead to a power vacuum. He said the new government would not recognize the new laws and would consider them null and void. It seems that Mish'al was expecting that President Abbas would embark on such steps. Yesterday's amendment on the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court has proved that his fears were justified.

Hamas will work - and must work - to cancel these amendments and all other laws that consecrated political and financial corruption in the PNA. Hamas must cancel all appointments in the Palestinian establishments, especially in the judiciary, that were based on cronyism and patronage.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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