The “Lawyers for Justice” group has released a legal position paper titled “Constitution Under the Ashes,” providing a critical reading of the draft “Palestinian Interim Constitution of 2026.”
The paper aims to highlight legislative irregularities affecting the political system and fundamental rights under the ongoing reality of occupation. The paper centers on the following core points:
First: The Origin of the Constitutional Process
The group indicates that the draft was issued via a unilateral presidential decree without a popular mandate and in the absence of an elected Legislative Council, which undermines its constituent legitimacy.
Second: Restriction of Political Pluralism, Rights, and Freedoms
The paper observed a conflict between the principle of pluralism and other provisions that impose restrictions on candidacy and election, which may lead to the exclusion of entire national forces and factions from the political scene. Furthermore, the group emphasized that the draft lacks an explicit provision prohibiting detention based on opinion or political affiliation, thereby opening the door to arbitrary political detention.
Third: Regression of Judicial Guarantees and Arbitrary Detention
The group issued a warning regarding the replacement of the “judicial warrant” requirement for arrest and search with the phrase “competent authorities,” as this constitutes a legal cover for arbitrary and political detention.
Fourth: Statutory Limitation of Claims and Depriving Victims of Justice
The paper noted that the draft referred the issue of the statute of limitations for claims arising from violations of rights and freedoms to [subsidiary] legislation, which constitutes an explicit deprivation of the rights of human rights violation victims to access fair justice.
Fifth: Centralization of Powers and Expansion of the Head of State’s Prerogatives
The draft grants the Head of State broad powers, including the appointment and dismissal of the Vice President and the dissolution of the House of Representatives. More critically, it expands his powers to issue decrees with the force of law (decree-laws) when the Legislative Council is not in session without clear constraints, thereby breaching the principle of the separation of powers and transforming the system into individual rule.
Sixth: Independence of the Constitutional Judiciary
The paper criticized the mechanism for appointing the President and members of the Constitutional Court by the Executive Branch, which compromises the neutrality of the Court in its capacity as the guardian of the Constitution.
Seventh: Disregard for the Reality of Occupation
The draft treats Palestine as a state with full sovereignty and fails to explicitly provide for the people’s right to resist occupation as guaranteed by international laws.
Conclusion
The “Lawyers for Justice” group believes that the current national priority lies in ending the division and stopping the aggression, rather than adopting constitutional texts that reinforce individual rule, diminish the guarantees established by the Amended Basic Law of 2003, and institutionalize legal loopholes that threaten rights and freedoms while legitimizing political detention and the statutory limitation of claims.
Lawyers for Justice Group
April 2026