Palestinian Authority Governments of June and July 2007 is a conciliation pact between Hamas and Fatah in the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

. This agreement convened a council (PA) of emergency cabinets led by

Salam Fayyad Salam Fayyad (; born 12 April 1952) is a Palestinian politician and economist who served as the first prime minister of Palestine from January 2013 until his resigned in July of that same year. He was previously the fourth prime minister of the ...

established by the Palestinian President

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

by presidential decree. The first Fayyad government was formed on 14 June 2007. Although widely supported by the international community, its creation is controversial as it was established under the Basic Law which requires the approval of the new government by

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinians, Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the Wes ...

. President Abbas has enacted some articles of the Basic Law to allow cabinets to be sworn in with the approval of the PLC. Emergency rule replaced the short-lived Hamas-led National Unity Government of March 2007, which was dismissed by President Abbas after the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007. The Fayyad government was swiftly recognized by the international community as the legal government of the Palestinian Authority. Fayyad remained the Prime Minister of the

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

-based

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

Governments, until he was replaced by

Rami Hamdallah Rami Hamdallah (; born 10 August 1958) is a Palestinian politician and academic. He served as Prime Minister of the State of Palestine from 2013 to 2019 and was previously the president of An-Najah National University in Nablus from 1998 to 2 ...

, who became Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Government of June 2013.

Controversy

By presidential decree, President Abbas declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

in June 2007, and dismissed Haniyeh-led 2007 National Unity Government, which included Abbas'

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

faction and several other parties.''Presidential Decrees Issued on June - July 2007''
JMCC, archived on 12 October 2007 Then, he appointed an emergency cabinet and suspended articles of the Basic Law, to circumvent the needed PLC approval.''Framers of Palestinian constitution challenge Abbas''
Adam Entous, Reuters, 8 July 2007 Senior lawyers who wrote the Basic Law said that President Abbas exceeded his powers in appointing an emergency government to replace a Hamas-led cabinet without PLC approval. Although he had the power to dismiss Haniyeh as Prime Minister, the law did not grant him the power to appoint a new government without PLC approval nor the right to suspend articles of the Basic Law.''TEXT-Opinion of lawyer who drafted Palestinian law''
Reuters, 8 July 2007 Haniyeh's dismissed cabinet should have remained as caretaker administration until Abbas secured PLC approval for a new government. Moreover, a Presidential decree lasts 30 days, only extendable with PLC approval. Nathan Brown said: "These are absolutely and clearly black and white violations. He has no authority whatsoever to appoint an emergency government."

Timeline

On 14 June 2007, President Abbas declared a state of emergency, dismissed the Hamas-led national unity PA government and

was commissioned to form a caretaker government. Fayyad's 16-member emergency government (described as the 12th government) was installed on the same day. Only two members of the previous government, Fayyad himself and Khouloud Daibes, kept their portfolios in the new government.''The PA Ministerial Cabinet List—The Emergency Government June 2007 - July 2007'' (12th government)
JMCC, archived on 18 August 2007 The Fayyad government was immediately recognized by the

international community The international community is a term used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. Usage Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is typically used to imply the ...

as the legal Palestinian Authority government,''Abbas appoints new Palestinian PM''
BBC, 15 June 2007.
"The group of Middle East mediators known as the Quartet - the US, UN, EU and Russia - pledged their "full support" for Mr Abbas, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said." The international community had boycotted the previous Hamas-led governments, and diverted

international aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Th ...

directly to Abbas or humanitarian aid organizations. Yet, they were prepared to work with the new PA Government.''U.S. ends embargo on Palestinian Authority in move to bolster Fatah''
Helene Cooper, International Herald Tribune, 19 June 2007''EU to sponsor Palestinian emergency government''
Lucia Kubosova, EU Observer, 19 June 2007
Isabel Kershner, New York Times, 25 June 2007 According to a

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

report, the Government ordered a boycott of the security, judicial and other government sectors in Gaza and ordered its employees to stay home from work if they wanted to get paid. President Abbas and Fatah supported Israel's Gaza border closures and restrictions on the supply of electricity and fuel.''Internal Fight-Palestinian Abuses in Gaza and the West Bank''
pp.15-16. Human Rights Watch, July 2008
Here available
. According to Palestinian security officials in the West Bank, Israel had since June 2007 assisted them in their ''common fight against Hamas''. The cooperation with Israel generated a common view among Palestinians in the West Bank, that the forces under President Abbas are the “subcontractor of the occupation“. The Human Rights Watch report furthermore states that serious human rights abuses were committed by the new government, but also by the Hamas government in Gaza. On 13 July 2007, the state of emergency expired in accordance with the Basic Law, and President Abbas issued a new decree to continue the state of emergency. The Fayyad government continued functioning as a caretaker government.''Platform of the 13th Government July 2007''
JMCC, 22 July 2007 On 22 July 2007, Prime Minister Fayyad presented his government (described as the 13th government) for PLC approval. Fayyad also presented his government's principles and goals, and emphasized that his government would be based on inter alia the

Arab Peace Initiative The Arab Peace Initiative (; ), also known as the Saudi Initiative (; ), is a 10 sentence proposal for an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict that was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit and re-endorsed at the 2007 Arab Le ...

and ″all pertinent international resolutions″, and that the government would honour the agreements made with Israel. The second Fayyad government was identical to the first Fayyad government of 14 June. ''The PA Ministerial Cabinet List—July 2007'' (13th government)
JMCC, archived on 4 October 2007 However, as the PLC quorum requirement could not be met, as Hamas members were boycotting the PLC, the approval was given in “extraordinary” session.

Members of the Government

June to July 2007

References

{{Palestinian governments Fayyad 01 2007 establishments in Palestine 2009 disestablishments in Palestine Cabinets established in 2007 Cabinets disestablished in 2009

Controversy

Timeline

Members of the Government

See also

References