The Role of The President in The Palestinian Legislative Political System, Comparative Study Prepared

This study presents the legislative role of the president in each of the parliamentary system in Britain, the presidential system in the United States of America, and the legislative role of the president in the Palestinian political system. In order to obtain a clear and a comprehensive picture about the role of the president in the mentioned regimes, it was important to study the theoretical, historical and practical matters of the subject. In the first chapter of this study, the researcher has focused on the legislative role of the president in the British parliamentary system and the American presidential system. First, she studied the British parliamentary system, starting with its history and its progress over the years to be where it is now. Furthermore, she discusses its components including the Crown, the ministry, and both houses of parliament, the House of Commons and Lords, the executive branch, the elected parliament, and the cooperation between the legislative and executive branches. Next, the role of the president in proposing laws, and how he used to have the absolute power over it ,and how it was then passed to the ministry and the members of parliament is discussed. Furthermore, she talked about the right to object to Laws; which also moved to the ministry. She gave some striking examples of the use the objections; where the last objection to the queen (Anne) was in 1707, however, the right of the queen to grant a Lord tittle to outstanding scientists and intellectuals was maintained. The king or the queen have the right to dissolve the parliament, and this right exists only in parliamentary systems, however, this right need to be assessed by the Prime Minister. king Charles 2 ordered the dissolution of parliament without a request from the Prime Minister .The researcher spoke on the role of king or queen in exceptional circumstances since his role was limited to being a legislature under exceptional circumstances ;to issuance of decisions of a legislative nature based on the parliamentary mandate. The king has also the right to issue regulations and to declare a state of emergency. The second section was devoted to the American presidential system, in which the researcher looked at the history of the system, and how the United States of America won its independence, she also spoke about the bodies on which it is based, namely: the President, and the legislature, and then she discussed the components of the presidential system. She also talked about the separation between the state and religion, and the individual executive power on which the system is based. As for the right of the American President in the proposal, he has the right to send a message to Parliament, acknowledges that by recommending such measures as it deems his senses and necessity, and this letter is considered to be the most important right of the in the proposal. The U.S. Constitution explicitly gave the president the right to veto the laws, and the projects that are approved by parliament within ten days from the date of submission to him. The objection has several types, including: the explicit and implicit, and partial, and the threat of a veto. But in exceptional circumstances, the right of Congress to authorize the President to the legislative authority, which is not included in the Constitution, and he has the right to make decisions in the event of emergency. Events of emergency are divided into two parts: the regular state of emergency, and the case of extreme emergency to protect the security of the State. The second chapter was devoted to the role of the President in the Legislative Palestinian political system during the British Mandate in Palestine until the formation of the Palestinian National Authority .In the Mandate era, the executive branch consisted of the King, and the High Representative ,the Minister, the Executive Board, and the legislature consists of 22 members in addition to the high Representative. There is no article in the Palestine constitution up to 1922 that gives the right to vote for some parties over others. However, the king, the Minister, and the high Representative had the right to propose laws. Furthermore, the king and his heirs had the right to cancel replace or modify the decree and the high Representative is the one who approves and promulgates the laws, and if not approved by the king he protected the decree. The king also had the right not agree to any law, even with the approval of the high Representative for up to one year. The high Representative is the one responsible to publish the facts of law in Palestine .In 1939 a law regarding Emergency Powers (Defiance) was approved, this law gave the King the power to legislate laws regarding the defense systems of public interest, or the preservation of public order. This is discussed in depth in the first section of the second chapter. The second section was devoted to the modern era of Jordanian rule of the West. In this ear, the legislative power consisted of the King, the Council of Ministers the House of Representatives and the Senate .Both the king and the ministers had the right to propose laws, and the king had the right to object within six months from the ratification. The Jordanian Constitution of 1952 has considered the state of necessity but the state of emergency was not applied by the Jordanian constitution until 1953. The third topic of the second chapter dealt with the Egyptian rule of Gaza. During that time, the general ruler had the right to propose laws since he is a member of the Legislative Council. The general ruler and the Legislative Council together had the right to propose the revision of the basic laws in the constitution. The revisions were implemented upon the approval of the Egyptian authorities .The general ruler had the right to ratify the bills during 30 days from the date of notification otherwise ;the bills were forwarded to the Minister of War. The general rulers would still have the final say on the bill. The law (255 in 1955) had regulated the the basis for the Gaza Strip during a state of emergency. During the era of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the military ruler was the legislative ,executive, and judiciary authority and the British emergency system was implemented in 1945. As for the political system under the rule of the Palestinian National Authority, the system has gone through two phases :The first stage before the election of the Legislative Council, and the second phase after the issuance of the Basic Law for the year 2002.According to this system Oslo agreement was signed which resembled the first agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. This agreement considered the National Council, and the President of executive authority of the council are the Interim Self-Government of the Palestinian people and this is the basis for the general elections for the Legislative Council. The agreement of Gaza and Jericho was then signed. This agreement organized the development of the Palestinian National Authority, in terms of the number of members (24), and its powers of the legislative and executive decision until the election of the Legislative Council in1996.With the issuance of the Basic Law in2002the system has become based on the dual of the executive (the President and Council Minister), and an elected parliament. With regard to proposing laws, after the signing of the Convention (Gaza and Jericho) this right was monopolized by one body, which is the Palestinian Authority composed of 24 members and they had the right to make the legislative and executive decision. Then, two laws were issued: the first Law No. (4) for the year 1995, which organized the preparation for the legislation procedures .The second Law No. (5) issued in1995, included the Council of Ministers in the process of Legislation and laws. The Palestinian Basic Law did not discuss the role of the president in propose laws, and therefore he has to ask the government to propose a specific project, and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, is the one to approve the laws issued after approval by the legislative board after 30 days from the date of submission to him. The president can also return the proposal to the council during the 30 days together with his comments, and the reasons for his objection. The Basic Law regulated the basis and the necessity state and gave the President of the Palestinian National Authority, in cases of emergency the right to force certain laws without the submission to the legislative council. This law however, has to be discussed with the council during its first meeting after issuance of this decision in Article 43. Articles110 Article 114 further discuss the state of emergency and they state that the President, in specific cases, declare a state of emergency decree and thus, the declaration of the state of emergency can only be done by the President alone. The conclusion of this research included general comments and findings regarding various aspects of this research.