Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday evening issued a presidential decree establishing a committee to draft an interim constitution, the Ramallah-run Wafa news agency reported.
The move comes against the backdrop of France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia declaring their intentions to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations meeting next month.
“President Abbas took this step in the context of preparations for holding general elections following the cessation of Israeli genocidal aggression on the Gaza Strip, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Strip, and after the State of Palestine assumes responsibility in the Strip in the process of transition to Palestinian statehood,” the article states.
The last general P.A. election was held on Jan. 25, 2006, when the Hamas terrorist group won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Abbas, 89, was elected on Jan. 9, 2005 and is still serving what was to have been a four-year term ending in January 2009.
Jerusalem opposes a Palestinian state and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently stated that neither Hamas nor the P.A. can govern Gaza after the war’s conclusion, saying on Saturday night that the next entity controlling the Strip “will live in peace with Israel.”
According to the Wafa report, the constitution-drafting committee is a step “intended to lay the foundations for the establishment of the State of Palestine and its institutions through preparing a draft constitution that enshrines the constitutional principles of a democratic system of governance based on the rule of law, the separation of powers, the respect for and protection of rights and public freedoms, and the peaceful alternation of power.”
Eight lawmakers from Israel’s ruling Likud Party on Monday published an open letter to Netanyahu, calling on him to apply the country’s civilian law to parts of Judea and Samaria.
The move “is both a national imperative and a necessary response to growing international momentum for the recognition of a Palestinian state,” wrote signatories Dan Illouz, Ariel Kallner, Galit Distel-Atbaryan, Keti Shitrit, Avichay Boaron, Afif Abed, Moshe Passal and Hanoch Milwidsky.
Ilouz, who initiated the letter, told JNS: “The moment to apply sovereignty is now. We have a stable right-wing government, a sympathetic American administration, and we are faced with a dangerous move by countries that are pushing for the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel. Every delay comes at a price—in security, legitimacy and our national future. This is the time to decide.”
A majority of 71 out of 120 Knesset members on July 23 passed a non-binding resolution in favor of applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
