Beyond the written constitution: Constitutional crisis of, and the institutional deadlock in, the Palestinian political system as entrenched in the basic law

Abstract

This article focuses on the Palestinian political system, its current crisis, its roots, and its future. The current crisis reached a climax in 2007 with the armed clash between Palestinian factions. The historical roots of the conflict, however, go much deeper. They are inherently connected to the legacy passed on to the Palestinian Authority. The current crisis of the Palestinian Authority has been a frequent subject of constitutional debates. While the key role of the Basic Law remains indisputable, this written, constitution-like text seems to be a part of the problem, rather than of the solution. In this article I will adopt a positivist approach to constitutions only to suggest its deficiency whenever it leads to formalism in interpreting written constitutions. Instead, I suggest using different paradigms that contribute to a better understanding of the role of written constitutions whenever conflicts between political actors are threatening the same political structure that made it possible for a political system to exist in the first place. © The Author 2013. Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law. All rights reserved.