President Yasser Arafat ratified on May the 28 the Basic Law, which is considered a temporary constitution for the Palestinian state until this state is established. A senior Palestinian official said: President Arafat signed the Basic Law on May the 28 Tuesday evening after it was presented to the PLC and after conducting several amendments on it. The Basic Law is one of the first laws that were ratified by the PLC as the start of its works more than 5 years ago. Signing the law was one of the basic demands of the PLC.
The Palestinian Central Council had formed a new committee to draft the Basic Law in November 1999 in the context of the preparation phase for declaring the state then. The ratification comes as a culmination of the steps that the President took in order to reinforce the rule of the law and the latest was the ratification of the Law of Independence of the Judiciary System.
In principle, the Basic Law provides a guarantee to secure the rights and freedom of citizens and defines the nature and relation between the three authorities: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The Basic Law is expected to define the features of political life in the Palestinian society in terms of the ruling system and the political system and the rule of the law.
According to Abdul Kareem Abu Salah, Head of the PLC Legal Committee, who was able to have a look at the ratified law, said the law defined the ruling system as democratic parliamentary which is based on political pluralism and parties and the president will be elected directly from the people and the government will answer to the President and the Legislative council.
The Basic Law consisting of seven chapters considered the rule of the law as the basis of ruling and all authorities, services and commissions and persons are have to abide by this law. Article 65 of the Basic Law came in harmony with one of the signs of reform since it stipulated having only 19 ministers.
Abu Salah stressed on the need to expedite publishing the law at the Palestinian official gazette and to abide by it. He also stressed that the law only deals with the interim period. PLC member Hatem Abdul Qader said the Basic Law is the constitution of Palestine for the interim period until the ratification of the constitutions after the establishment of the Palestinian state.
Published on Al Ayyam Newspaper on Thursday May, 29.
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