Drafting a Constitution for a “Country of words”1
In: Middle East Law and GovernanceCan words – rather than a State (or army) – constitute a country? It may be made of land, rivers, forests or deserts – yet, without its inhabitants’ words, there would be no map to draw, no tale to sing, no country to speak of. Palestinian tales abound. They speak of departed lands, vanished homes, forfeited livelihoods. They lament internal wrangling, squeal occupational anger, seek to whisper away those quotidian checkpoint humiliations. Yet, they also speak of hope. If there ever were such a thing as “authoritative hope”, the ongoing Palestinian constitution drafting process may be it. But hope cannot be formalized, let alone authorized. And there is some danger in pretending otherwise.
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2)
Mahmoud Darwish, “We Travel Like Other People,” in Victims of a Map, trans. Abdallah Udhari (London: El Saqi, 1984), 31.
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5)
Nathan J. Brown, “Constituting Palestine: The Effort To Write A Basic Law For The Palestinian Authority,” Middle East Journal 54, no. 1 (2000): 25-43, 32.
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8)
“In 1988, the Palestine National Council (PNC) met in Algiers and issued a declaration of independence. The declaration called for a ‘democratic parliamentary system’, freedom of expression, equality, a constitution, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary. […] The PLO itself was to issue, but remain unconstrained by, the Basic Law.” Brown, “Constituting Palestine”, 3 and 28.
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16)
J. Tully, Strange Multiplicity: Constitutionalism in an Age of Diversity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 60-1.
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23)
See, notably, B. Botiveau, “Palestinian Law – Social Segmentation Versus Centralization,” in Legal Pluralism in the Arab World, eds. Baudouim Dupert, Maurits Berger and Laila al-Zwaini (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999), 73-87.
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45)
Hans Lindahl, “Constituent Power and Reflexive Identity: Towards an Ontology of Collective Selfhood,” in The Paradox of Constitutionalism: Constituent Power and Constitutional Form, eds. Martin Loughlin and Neil Walker (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 22.
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54)
Since 1996, 40% of the PNC (those on the PLC) has been directly elected. According to the (so far tentative, as it has not been signed) Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement, “The Legislative, Presidential, and the Palestinian National Council elections will be conducted at the same time exactly one year after the signing of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.”
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66)
Carl Schmitt, Legality and Legitimacy (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 5.
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67)
Anthony J. Parel, ed., Gandhi: ‘Hind Swaraj’ and Other Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), lxvi.
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70)
Sari Nusseibeh, What Is a Palestinian State Worth? (New Haven: Harvard University Press, 2011), 32.
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71)
Mohandas K. Gandhi, “The Pyramid vs. The Oceanic Circle,” in Gandhi: ‘Hind Swaraj’ and Other Writings, ed. Anthony J. Parel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 181.
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82)
A. K. Wing, “Custom, Religion, and Rights: The Future Legal Status of Palestinian Women,” Harvard International Law Journal 35 (1994): 149, at 150.
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83)
G. Bisharat, Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule: Law and Disorder in the West Bank (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989), 41.
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86)
Ifrah Zilberman, “Palestinian Customary Law in the Jerusalem Area,” Catholic University Law Review 45 (1996): 795, at 802.
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89)
Nathan J. Brown, “Constituting Palestine: The Effort To Write A Basic Law For The Palestinian Authority,” Middle East Journal 54, no. 1 (2000): 25.
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Drafting a Constitution for a “Country of words”1
In: Middle East Law and GovernanceCan words – rather than a State (or army) – constitute a country? It may be made of land, rivers, forests or deserts – yet, without its inhabitants’ words, there would be no map to draw, no tale to sing, no country to speak of. Palestinian tales abound. They speak of departed lands, vanished homes, forfeited livelihoods. They lament internal wrangling, squeal occupational anger, seek to whisper away those quotidian checkpoint humiliations. Yet, they also speak of hope. If there ever were such a thing as “authoritative hope”, the ongoing Palestinian constitution drafting process may be it. But hope cannot be formalized, let alone authorized. And there is some danger in pretending otherwise.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1188 | 17 | 0 |
| Full Text Views | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 10 | 2 | 0 |