Palestinian National Authority - Politics and Internal Structure

Politics and Internal Structure

The politics of the Palestinian Authority take place within the framework of a semi-presidential multi-party republic, with the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), an executive President, and a Prime Minister leading a Cabinet. According to the Palestinian Basic Law which was signed by Arafat in 2002 after a long delay, the current structure of the PA is based on three separate branches of power: executive, legislative, and judiciary. The PA was created by, is ultimately accountable to, and has historically been associated with, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), with whom Israel negotiated the Oslo Accords.

The PLC is an elected body of 132 representatives, which must confirm the Prime Minister upon nomination by the President, and which must approve all government cabinet positions proposed by the Prime Minister. The Judicial Branch has yet to be formalized. The President of the PA is directly elected by the people, and the holder of this position is also considered to be the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In an amendment to the Basic Law approved in 2003, the president appoints the Prime Minister who is also chief of the security services in the Palestinian territories. The Prime Minister chooses a cabinet of ministers and runs the government, reporting directly to the President.

As opposed to other Arab countries, the PLC has historically demonstrated considerable power, and has frequently caused changes in government appointments through threats of no-confidence votes. Many critical votes are won in the government's favor without an outright majority. Since the death of Arafat, the PLC has reinvigorated its activity, and commonly summons senior executive officials to testify before it. Parliamentary elections were conducted in January 2006 after the passage of an overhauled election law that increased the number of seats from 88 to 132. The Chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, was elected as President of PA in a landslide victory in 1996. Subsequent elections were postponed, ostensibly due to the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the subsequent Israeli military clampdown. However, internal Palestinian strife was also a reason for the disorganization in government. After Arafat's death in 2004, new elections occurred on both presidential and local levels. Although almost 80% of the employees of the PA were local Palestinians, higher posts were occupied mostly by PLO officials who returned from exile after the PA was established in 1994. In the opinion of many local Palestinians, these "returnees" were a source of bureaucracy and corruption.

Arafat's administration was criticized for its lack of democracy, widespread corruption among officials, and the division of power among families and numerous governmental agencies with overlapping functions. He established over ten distinct security organizations through various mechanisms in an alleged divide et impera scheme, which is claimed to have guaranteed an atmosphere of power-struggle in the Authority which enabled him to preserve overall control. Both Israel and the US declared they lost trust in Arafat as a partner and refused to negotiate with him, regarding him as linked to terrorism. Arafat denied this, and was visited by other leaders around the world up until his death. However, this began a push for change in the Palestinian leadership. In 2003, Arafat succumbed to domestic and international pressure and appointed Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as prime minister of the PA. Abbas resigned four months later because of lack of support from Israel, the US, and Arafat himself. He was later chosen as his Fatah party's candidate for president of the PA in 2004 after the death of Arafat. He won the presidency on 9 January 2005 with 62% of the vote. Former prime minister Ahmed Qureia formed his government on 24 February 2005 to wide international praise because, for the first time, most ministries were headed by experts in their field as opposed to political appointees.

The presidential mandate of Mahmoud Abbas expired in 2009 and he is no longer recognised by Hamas, among others, as the legitimate Palestinian leader. According to Palestinian documents leaked to the Al Jazeera news organization, the United States has threatened to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority should there be a change in the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. In February 2011, the Palestinian Authority announced that parliamentary and presidential elections would be held by September 2011.

On 27 April 2011, Fatah's Azzam al-Ahmad announced the party's signing of a memorandum of understanding with Hamas' leadership, a major step towards reconciliation effectively paving the way for a unity government. The deal was formally announced in Cairo, and was co-ordinated under the mediation of Egypt's new intelligence director Murad Muwafi. The deal came amidst an international campaign for statehood advanced by the Abbas administration, which is expected to culminate in a request for admission into the General Assembly as a member state in September. As part of the deal, the two factions agreed to hold elections in both territories within twelve months of the creation of a transitional government. In response to the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that the Authority must choose whether it wants "peace with Israel or peace with Hamas".