Parallel legal systems pose threat to Palestinian unity
Laws and decisions issued separately in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the split will be raised in the upcoming days by the reconciliation committee.
On top of the political and geographic division that Palestinians experienced over the past 10 years — since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, until Fatah and Hamas signed the reconciliation agreement in October — many contradictory presidential decrees, laws and government decisions were issued in the Palestinian territories.
In the coming weeks, the reconciliation committee will be preoccupied with determining the fate of these laws, to reach a unified legal system that will put an end to the legislative duplication between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Legislative duplication between the West Bank and Gaza is evident in their tax laws. Palestinians are subject to double taxation by virtue of legislation issued by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank government. The two governments have separate budgets.
Mazen Noureddine, the dean of the faculty of law at Ummah University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, “Talks about unifying Palestinian laws issued during the divide must be based on two principles: the rule of law and the preservation of the Palestinian public interest. However, questioning whether or not legislation issued during the divide is constitutional would undermine any hope of establishing the unity of the Palestinian society and regulating its legal system — as a safety valve for the State of Palestine.”
