Hundreds of Palestinian attorneys staged a rare public demonstration on Monday in Ramallah against what they described as the Palestinian Authority’s “rule by decree,” denouncing P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas for governing without a parliament, AFP reported.
Since 2007, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which was established during the the Oslo Peace Accords with Israel, has remained inactive, meaning that Abbas has presided over the Palestinian Authority without a functioning parliament for virtually the whole of his presidency, the report noted.
In response, a new leadership of the Palestinian Bar Association has recently attempted to exert pressure on the P.A. to change the situation.
During Monday’s rally, Suheil Ashour, president of the Bar Association, said his organization would take a firm stance against legislation issued by P.A. presidential order that restricted Palestinian “rights and freedoms.”
“Our demand is either to stop their implementation now or to cancel” them, said Ashour.
The protesters, dressed in black, were stopped by P.A. riot police from advancing in the direction of P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh’s office.
“The legislative authority is absent in Palestine, and the judicial authority is completely marginalized,” said protester Farhan Abu Aisha, according to the report. He accused Abbas of making decisions “under the cover of darkness.”
