Abbas receives draft constitution that aims to transition PA to full-fledged state

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas received a draft constitution yesterday that aims to transition the PA to a full-fledged state, Ramallah’s official Wafa media outlet says.

Drafting committee chairman Muhammad al-Hajj Qasim presented the nearly-70 page document to Abbas after holding seven months of consultations.

The importance of the development is not fully clear because the PA already refers to itself as a full-fledged state, but this would be the first time the transition is embedded in a constitutional framework.

To date, the PA has been operating under the PA basic laws.

Abbas ordered that the draft constitution be submitted to the Palestine Liberation’s Executive Committee for review.

It will then have to go through a public referendum — something Israel will likely seek to block as it violates the Oslo framework, which envisions Palestinian statehood resulting from direct negotiations between the parties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed such negotiations, though, and Jerusalem has accused Ramallah of rejecting previous statehood offers.

The draft constitution stipulates that if approved, some of its provisions would take effect before a presidential election is held, while other provisions would take effect afterward.

The document maintains the main elements of the existing presidential system, but stipulates that the position should have a limit of two four-year terms. Abbas is currently serving in the 21st year of his first term after cancelling several planned elections over what he says has been Israel’s refusal to allow balloting in East Jerusalem. The decision is also widely understood to also be due to fears of Hamas gains.

No date has been set for either the parliamentary or presidential elections in the PA.

However, PA municipal elections are slated for April and the first-ever direct, popular elections for the PLO’s Palestinian National Council are scheduled for November. The latter body selects the members of the PLO’s Executive Committee.

The PLO is supposed to be the overarching umbrella body representing Palestinians worldwide, whereas the PA is supposed to be a transitional administrative body providing services for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

No date has been set for a referendum on the draft constitution, and analysts speculate that Abbas is not likely to rush the move. Such a vote would likely meet significant pushback from Israel, which is already withholding several billion dollars in tax revenues that belong to Ramallah, significantly hampering its effort to pay public sector employees and continue to function.

But Abbas is also facing pressure both domestically and from the international community to reform the PA, and the new constitution is framed as a key part of that process.