A Constitution for Palestine: When and How?
The speaker assured that in choosing this topic she does not intend to comment on any draft constitutional documents in Palestine or to make concrete propositions. The purpose is to express some views and contribute to the debate concerning constitutional issues.
The speaker clarified that the aim of a constitution is to frame the political organization of a State in a legal shape, to vest various authorities with precise functions and jurisdiction, to define the limits of their power, to state how the three branches (legislative, executive and judiciary) relate to each other, to describe procedures and of course to guarantee the free exercise of the fundamental rights of men and women as well as of citizens.
Given the assumption with respect to Palestine three main questions are at issue:
- Constitution before state?
- Who may draft it?
- The choice of a political system.
In conclusion the speaker summed up the main facts resulted from her speech as follows:
- Constitutional provisions are not ruling political life
- Constitutional provisions can be circumvented according to political conditions.
This leads to think about the constitution very carefully.
