State turnaround: Palestine will submit a draft constitution by November 24
Palestine is taking a decisive step towards forming its own state: the draft constitution is almost ready and will be submitted to President Mahmoud Abbas by November 24. Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Izvestia about this. According to him, the document includes the territories and the Gaza Strip. After the approval of the draft, consultations are planned with all Palestinian forces, including Hamas. The Constitution also creates the legal basis for holding general elections for Parliament and the President. How Israel treats what is happening is in the Izvestia article.
Palestine completes work on the draft constitution
Work on the draft constitution of Palestine is nearing completion: the committee intends to submit the final version to President Mahmoud Abbas by November 24, a member of the PLO executive committee said.
— Most of the sections of the interim Constitution were prepared by the Constitutional Committee in accordance with the schedule assigned by President Mahmoud Abbas. This assignment ends on November 24. We are currently at the final stage of reviewing sections of the constitution," Ahmed Majdalani told Izvestia, adding that a meeting of the constitutional committee will be held on November 17 to review all sections of the text.
Speaking about the territorial basis of the future Palestinian state, the official said that the draft constitution would fix the borders from 1967, that is, include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
— I believe that by the 24th we will have a version that will become almost final. The draft has been fully completed in terms of formulation, review, and legal and linguistic verification, and it will be submitted to the president on time," he stressed.
According to him, the document reflects the "political transition from the administration to the state" and will become the basis for future national elections — the parliament and the president of the State of Palestine.
Responding to a question about the position of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, and consultations with them, Majdalani noted that after the completion of the draft, a dialogue would be held "with all political and public structures of Palestine, both inside and outside the country."
The Hamas movement is not part of the Palestinian Authority. Simultaneously with the beginning of the work of the constitutional committee, a source in the movement informed Izvestia that Hamas was ready to transfer control of the sector to the national authority after the cease-fire. According to him, it is a question of "transferring administrative control without any conditions to a Palestinian structure agreed at the national level." Such a move could reduce intra-Palestinian divisions and simplify the creation of a unified governance system in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel does not agree with the creation of a Palestinian State
The drafting of the constitution has intensified the political dynamics surrounding the Palestinian issue against the background of the recent recognition of Palestine by Great Britain, France, Canada, Spain, Ireland and Norway. This step is considered as a practical tool for consolidating the legal foundations of the future state. The new document is intended to fix its geographical scope, which becomes especially relevant against the background of Israel's attempts to extend its sovereignty over the occupied territories.
Today, the legal basis of Palestine remains the Basic Law, developed on the basis of the Declaration of Independence of 1988, adopted by Yasser Arafat. The PLO emphasizes that the intensification of work on the creation of the state is connected with the non-fulfillment of the agreements reached in Oslo in 1993. At that time, it was supposed to establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders within five years, but this process actually stalled.
Meanwhile, the political settlement is accompanied by the promotion of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. On October 9, the parties, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Turkey, agreed on the first stage of the peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump. According to the document, the ceasefire in Gaza came into force on October 10. On October 13, Hamas released the 20 remaining hostages and handed over the remains of the dead abductees.
According to the TRT Haber TV channel, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin held consultations with Hamas representatives on the implementation of the next stages of the agreement.
Israel, for its part, does not accept the idea of creating a Palestinian State. In 2024, the Knesset approved a declaration against its proclamation. Later, the authorities presented a plan for the construction of 3,500 apartments in the E1 area east of Jerusalem — this development threatens to sever the territorial connectivity of the future state, separating the north of the West Bank from the south. Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called the project a "historic step" and a response to the willingness of a number of Western countries to recognize Palestine.
"In order for a political settlement to be truly effective, it is necessary to dismantle Israeli settlements and eliminate the consequences of their presence there, which will allow the formation of a geographically connected and viable Palestinian state," Palestinian security expert Mohammed al-Masri told Izvestia.
He added that the suspension of settlement activity is a fundamental condition for the implementation of the two—state concept.
Russia supports the restoration of negotiations between the parties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while Moscow sees the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as one of the most urgent and priority steps. The outcome of the negotiations, as Moscow insists, should also be the creation of an independent Palestine, coexisting in peace with the Jewish state.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
