The Palestine government and politics works within the framework of the rules and regulations as laid down in the Constitution of Palestine. The Constitution came into existence in 1968. In 2001 the first draft of this constitution was published. Dr. Nabeel Ali Shaath is the Chairman of the Committee of the Palestine Constitution.
The current President of the government of Palestine is Mahmoud Abbas. Haniyeh’s government was removed by President Mahmoud Abbas on 14th June, 2007. He has been replaced by Fayyad who runs an emergency government in Palestine. However Haniyeh exercises his authority in the Gaza strip while Fayyad does the same in the West Bank. The cabinet of Palestine is thus an emergency cabinet.
The legislature of Palestine which is known as the Palestinian Legislative Council is unicameral in nature with 132 members. Half of the members are elected on the basis of proportional representation and the rest half are elected by traditional constituencies. The Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council is Abdel Aziz Duwaik.
The various political parties that play an important role in the politics of Palestine are as follows:
- Palestine Liberation Organiztion
- Fatah
- Third Way
- Palestinian People’s Party
- Palestinian Democratic Union