°®Âþµº

Palestinian lawyers observed a one-day strike on Monday, with hundreds of lawyers and other Palestinians participating in a protest in Ramallah, as part of the civil disobedience tactics called for by the Palestinian Bar Association against creating laws or amendments through decrees by the Palestinian Authority, most recently .
 
In March, the PA modified by presidential decree three laws concerning penal procedures, civil and commercial judiciary procedures and executive procedures.
 
The amendments shorten the period for appeals on judiciary rulings, increase court fees, and grant special protection from judicial by the public prosecution.
 
The Palestinian High Judicial Council, representing the PA's judicial branch, had been in discussions dialogued with the Palestinian Bar Association, which opposes the amendments. in early July after the discussions hit a dead end.

 
"The entire method of making law by decree is unlawful, and these amendments, in particular, ," Isam Abdeen, a Ramallah-based lawyer and human rights activist, told °®Âþµº.
 
"They make access to justice even more difficult to people with limited resources, and weaken the judicial system, giving even ," noted Abdeen.
 
"The PA's judicial powers have tried to get around the matter by offering minor modifications to the amendment decrees, but what is required is the complete abolition of the amendment decree," he stressed.
 
The Palestinian High Judicial Council said last week that it had held a meeting, under instructions of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, with the president of the Bar Association , including the Palestinian Justice Minister, and listened to the lawyers' objections to the amendments.

 
According to the statement, the Judicial Council decided, following the meeting, to suspend the implementation of part of the amendments until September and introduce modifications.
 
"What we as lawyers are demanding is with the participation of all of the Palestinian society," remarked Abdeen.
 
"This is the current solution, in absence of a legislative body, but the real solution must be to hold elections to have an elected, active legislative council that would review all laws by decree and resume the normal law-making process," he added.
 
The Palestinian legislative council, the PA's legislative body for the occupied Palestinian territories, has been inactive  and . In 2018, the Palestinian constitutional court officially dissolved the council.
 
Palestinians were scheduled to elect a new council in May 2021.  until Israel allows Palestinians in Jerusalem to vote.