Palestinian Authority

|- valign=" top" |- valign=" top" | President | Mahmoud Abbas |- valign=" top" | Prime Minister | Salam Fayyad |}

The Palestinian Autorité is the name of the governmental entity which represents the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and of the Gaza Strip. This entity was created in 1993 by the Accords of Oslo, in order to negotiate with Israel a final agreement on the conflict opposing the two parts. It has a president and an assembly elected by the vote for all, a police force and representatives in several countries.

Operation of the Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Authority is divided into two stages. The first takes the shape of a legislative council made up of 132 deputies. The half of those are elected in the Circonscriptions while the 76 others are elected by vote for all. This method of election makes it possible to locally represent the people as well as the party which it really wishes to see with the capacity. The Prime Minister belongs to this council and is named by the president. By convention, it is the chief of the party in power which is named.

The president is the second level of government. He is elected at the time of distinct elections.

The Palestinian Authority has its own television channel; it emits stamps and has a clean postal administration since 1994.

Political history

Creation of the Palestinian authority

Presidency of Yasser Arafat

In 1996, Yasser Arafat is elected President of the Palestinian Authority, which it directs until his death, the November 11th 2004. The March 19th 2003, the president Yasser Arafat appoints Mahmoud Abbas Prime Minister for the Palestinian Authority under the American and European pressures. The latter refused to dialog with Yasser Arafat. After the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, the president names Ahmed Qorei to succeed the October 7th to him 2003.

However, envenimement of the israélo-Palestinian Conflit returned the statute of the problematic Palestinian authority according to the points of view:

its first president, Yasser Arafat, was shown by controlling Israeli supporting the Terrorisme, directly, by negligence or its inaction although he condemned the attack-suicides.
the same one is frequently shown by the population that it managed to support corruption and not to know to delegate or share the power. In its autobiography, Bill Clinton speaks about Yasser Arafat as somebody who did not succeed in exceeding the mentality of “war leader” for finally becoming the “Head of State” of which it has the functions and it is with that it allots the failure of the negotiations of the Sommet of Camp David II.
the military incursions of the Israeli army into the territories managed by the authority prove that the Israeli government does not grant any credit to the authority.

Presidency by interim of Raouhi Fatouh

Died of Yasser Arafat, Raouhi Fatouh, president of the Palestinian Legislative council (Palestinian Parliament), in accordance with the Palestinian fundamental law, takes the presidency by interim for 60 days.

Presidency of Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas is elected, the January 9th 2005, president of the Palestinian authority. Under its presidency and in the prolongation of that of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority fights for the creation of a State Palestinian, at the sides of Israel and distinct from this one.

The takeover of Hamas

the Palestinian municipal elections of 2005 are marked by the participation of Hamas in the political life of the Palestinian authority and by the popularity of the movement in the population, in particular in the Gaza Strip.

With the Palestinian legislative elections of January 26th, 2006, the Hamas obtains 76 seats against 43 for the Fatah. The president Mahmoud Abbas calls with the formation of a government Hamas by Ismaël Haniyeh.

May 25th, 2006, he announces the behavior of a referendum in this direction.

Carryforward of the declarations of Mahmoud Abbas: “Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, declared this Thursday May that it would organize a national referendum on the basis of a document which would call in a Palestinian State in the borders of 1967, if Hamas did not answer favorably its proposal within 10 day”.

The question put to the Palestinians would be: do you accept, or not, the document prepared at the beginning of the month by Palestinian leaders held in Israel? This document calls in a Palestinian State in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and in Jerusalem East, territories conquered by Israel at the time of the war of 1967. The document was negotiated during four weeks by important prisoners belonging to Hamas and Fatah in the Israeli prison of Hadarim, where currently in detention the leader of Fatah Marwan Barghouti is.

Abbas declared Thursday at a meeting of Palestinian leaders who there exists a national consensus on the borders of the future Palestinian State: “All the Palestinians, of Hamas until the Communists, we all want a State Palestinian in the borders of 1967. Here what is with our range, let us not speak about our dreams”.

It specified that if 10 days of dialog between Hamas and the Fatah (dialog which began Thursday) did not lead to a common program, it would organize a referendum in the 40 days which would follow.

Questioned on the support which the Palestinians would need to create their independent State, Abbas said: “The Arab States wait until we adopted this attitude of realism, to be able to work in harmony and to advance the Palestinian cause. They can nothing make for the Palestinian cause if the Palestinians oppose all”.

Following a war of factions between the Fatah of Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas de Ismaël Aniyeh, Hamas controls the totality of the Gaza Strip on June 15th, 2007.

The fight against corruption

Pushed back since December 2005, on request of the president Mahmoud Abbas, because of the elections of January, the prosecutor Ahmed Moghani published on April 5th, 2006 his investigation carrying into embezzlements for an amount of 700 million dollars disappeared from the trunks of the Palestinian Authority. On the whole, these diversions relate to about fifty case of financial and administrative corruption in which twenty-five people would be directly implied. Ten international warrants for arrest were delivered against of the suspects in escape.

This investigation succeeded, thanks to the support of the president Mahmoud Abbas, who had committed himself at the time of his election fighting against the corruption which represents a true plague in the Palestinian territories - phenomenon which contributed to the victory of Hamas to the recent legislative elections. This 700 million is to be brought closer to the debts of the authority which rise in January with 1 billion dollar whereas it is in the incapacity to pay the wages of its civils servant without delay.

Confrontations between rival factions

Economy

Finances of the Palestinian Authority and subsidies of the godfathers

Finances of the Palestinian Authority are largely dependant on foreign aid. Here how it is distributed:

Budget 2005 of the Palestinian Authority : Total: 1,96 billion dollar (1,62 billion euros)

Foreign aid: Total: 1,1 billion dollar (910 million euros), of which a third for the governmental wages and operation costs, the remainder for the infrastructures and reconstruction projects

Principal backers :

European Union: 295 million dollars (245 million euros), mainly out of development assistance

individual Contributions of the countries of the EU: 300 million (250 million euros), the two principal donor countries being Germany to 56 million dollars (46 million euros) and the United Kingdom to 50 million dollars (41 million euros)

the United States: 234 million dollars (193 million euros), mainly for Arab development projects
Country: 204 million dollars (168 million euros)
Norway: 60 million dollars (50 million euros)
Japan: 30 million (25 million euros)

Returned of the taxes : 2005: 396 million dollars (327 million euros)

Other incomes : - Customs duties and VAT collected by Israel for the Palestinian Authority each month: 50 million dollars (45,39 million euros)

Sources: The World Bank, Palestinian ministry of Finances and individual governments

The European Union poured 280 million euros of direct subsidy. The European Union decided to continue to grant its financial aid with the Palestinian Authority as long as the new government did not lend oath, announces the Evening. It however in the long term conditioned the maintenance of its assistance to the recognition, by the Hamas, of the State of Israel and the agreements previously signed by the Palestinian authority with Israel and with the renunciation of violence by the islamist movement.

Geography

Administrative divisions

The occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip were divided by the Accords of Oslo into three administrative surfaces with the different statutes:

the surface has is the area under total Palestinian control. The Palestinian cities (except for Jerusalem-Is which was excluded from the agreements).
the surface B is the area under civil Palestinian control but under Israeli military control.
the surface C is the area under Israeli total control.

Sixteen governorships (5 in the Gaza Strip and 11 in the West Bank) were also defined.

In the Gaza Strip :

Governorship of Deir Al-Balah
Governorship of Gaza
Governorship of Gaza-North
Governorship of Khan Younis
Governorship of Rafah

In the West Bank

Governorship of Bethlehem
Governorship of Hebron
Governorship of Jenin
Governorship of Jericho
Governorship of Jerusalem
Governorship of Nablus
Governorship of Qalqilya
Governorship of Ramallah and Al-Bireh
Governorship of Salfit
Governorship of Tubas
Governorship of Tulkarem

References

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