Critics lambast Abbas for turning his office into ‘parallel government’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has signed a new law that gives his office administrative and financial authorities similar to those of the PA government. Palestinian legal experts have criticized the move. The law paves the way for the creation of a parallel PA government in the West Bank, critics said. The expansion of authorities for the PA president's office comes at a time when Palestinians are facing an economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, they said. The Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, has been paralyzed since 2007, when Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip. The parliament's absence has paved the way for Abbas and the PA government to pass dozens of laws and regulations in the past 13 years. The controversial law, published in the Palestinian Official Gazette Al-Wakae' on March 19, says the Office of the Palestinian Presidency shall enjoy an independent financial position within the “state budget” and have the authority to carry out financial activities. It further authorizes Abbas's office to work directly with the private sector. The law states that the head of the Office of the Palestinian Presidency shall enjoy the powers granted to the head of a government department and receive a salary equal to the salary of a minister. It also authorizes the office to open branches in Palestinian cities. The Office of the Palestinian Presidency is defined by the new law as a state institution whose job is to “organize communication and cooperation with all official and informal state institutions, locally and internationally, and oversee the implementation of the PA president's decisions and instructions.” Palestinian legal experts said the new law means that the Palestinians would now have three governments: two in the West Bank and a third in the Gaza Strip. This law is in violation of the Palestinian Basic Law and undermines the authorities of the PA government, headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, they said. Adnan Amr, a former legal adviser to the PA president, criticized the law on his Facebook page by describing it as “legal anarchy.” Palestinian lawyer and writer Shaqi Issa, a former PA minister of agriculture, said the new law turns Abbas's office into a government inside his Mukata presidential compound in Ramallah. “Congratulations on the right to self-determination and independence of the people of the Mukata,” he said in a Facebook post. “Congratulations to the head of the Office of the Palestinian Presidency,” Issa said. “God willing, next year [the Mukata] will become a nation. If you are now preparing a constitution, you can benefit from the experience of the Vatican, bearing in mind that the Vatican has no branches, while according to this law, you seem to have expansionist intentions to open branches.”

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