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  

Links