The Challenge of the Enforcement of the Rule of Law and Governance in Palestine: The Tribal Justice System and the Rule of Power

Abstract

The article addresses the system of tribal justice and the rule of power in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as two key obstacles to the enforcement of the rule of law and governance. The article presents the legal grounds for the involvement of tribesmen in resolving disputes among citizens outside the rule of law. It goes on to analyze the role and interest of the executive authority in encouraging the involvement of tribes while the authority continues to interfere in the affairs of the official judiciary in both functional and structural terms. It also explores a number of illegal legislative and regulatory interventions made by the president of the executive authority with the effect of undermining official institutions supporting good governance and transparency. The article finds that it is impossible to enforce the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a result of existing practices that are difficult to change without renewing constitutional legitimacy by referring to the people as the source of authority for criminalizing any act contrary to or impeding the rule of law, or impeding or encroaching on the jurisdiction of the official judiciary.