Palestine

Official name:

The Palestinian National Authority

Name in local language:

فلسطين‎ transliterated as Filastin or Falastin

Form of government:

Republic

Political system:

Parliamentary

Founding date/ Date of independence: Not yet a recognised independent state because under occupation. After Israel was declared a state in 1948, what remained of Palestine came under Jordanian (the West Bank and East Jerusalem) and Egyptian control (the Gaza Strip). Since the Six-day 1967 war the whole of Palestine became a territory occupied by Israel.
Date of constitution/reform: The Palestinian "Basic Law", passed in 2002, serves the purpose of a constitution, until a Palestinian state is established. It has been amended twice: in 2003 to create the post of "Prime Minister" and in 2005 to establish a new electoral law.
Form of state: Unitary
Administrative divisions: 16 governorates or muhafaza. 11 in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza strip
Official language(s): Arabic
Other spoken languages: Hebrew and English
Official religion: The Basic Law states that Islam is the official religion but calls for respect and sanctity for other "heavenly" religions
Minorities: Reserved seats for religious minorities; Christians (Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Catholics, Copts, Maronites, Melkites, Jacobites, Syriacs); and Samaritans (in Nablus).
Dominant actor(s): Israel as occupying force
Elected institutions of government: Presidency, Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) or Parliament and Palestinian National Council (PNC).
Non-elected institutions of government: -
Party system: Multi-party system

Current authorities

Head of state: Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen), since January 205.
Head of government: Mohammad Shtayyeh, replaced Rami Hamdallah in April 2019.
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Riyad al- Malki
Minister of Interior: Said Abu Ali
Head(s) of Legislative Branch: Aziz Duweik
Composition legislative branch: Link to PDF
Head of the Judiciary: Farid al-Jallad
Schematic representation of the political system:
In Gaza: Head of government: Ismail Haniyya