The Figurehead

When Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections, their apologists told us not to worry, since the relatively moderate President Mahmoud Abbas still retained the power to veto legislation and appoint his own people to top positions. So, the first piece of legislation passed by Hamas strips Mahmoud Abbas of his power to veto legislation and appoint his own people to top positions:

The huge TV screen in the Gaza parliament showed Fatah members staging a walkout from the parliament chamber in the West Bank city of Ramallah, objecting to the new Hamas majority overturning recently passed powers for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

But in Gaza itself, the drama Monday was outside the parliamentary building. Fatah gunmen marched on the building, turning away at the last minute toward a meeting of their own leaders, where they threatened to kill any Fatah official who joins a Hamas Cabinet.
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Hamas has 74 seats in the new parliament and Fatah just 45, and the first order of business for Hamas was to cancel the powers the outgoing parliament gave to Abbas, the Fatah leader, authorizing him to cancel laws passed by the new parliament and appointing Fatah officials to key positions.

With its absolute majority, Hamas can set up a government by itself, but Hamas leaders prefer to bring in other parties, partly to deflect international criticism and threatened economic sanctions because of Hamas' record of violence and refusal to recognize Israel.

At the first working session of parliament since it was sworn in, Hamas easily passed legislation to rescind Abbas' new powers, but some experts said Abbas has the authority to cancel the Monday resolution, perpetuating the standoff.

The Palestinian constitution (which contains 193 provisions) says Parliament can overturn a Presidential veto with a 2/3 majority. But I have a feeling that constitution is going to become irrelevant before too long.

Posted by damian at March 7, 2006 08:05 AM | TrackBack