President Abbas swears in emergency government, with Salam Fayyad as prime minister 

Date: 17 / 06 / 2007 Time: 13:21

Bethlehem – Ma'an – 

Palestinian emergency government was sworn in by President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday.

The new Palestinian secular emergency government is named as follows:

• Salam Fayyad is Prime Minister, minister of foreign affairs and minister of finance, he is from the Third Way bloc.

• Abdur Razzaq al Yahya is minister of interior and civil affairs, a Fatah affiliate.

• Ziad Bandak is minister of local governance and agriculture, a Fatah affiliate and a Christian.

• Khouloud Daibes is minister of tourism and women's affairs, she is independent and a Christian.

• Mohammad Hasouna is minister of economy and public works, affiliated to Palestinian National Initiative.

• Lameeis Alami is minister of education and culture, she is independent.

• Samir Abdullah is minister of planning and labour, affiliated to the Palestinian People's Party.

• Fathi Abu Mahdi is minister of health.

• Riyad Maliki is minister of information and justice, formerly leader within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

• Jamal Bawatna is minister of endowments and social affairs.

• Mashur Abu Dukka is minister of transportation.

• Ashraf Ajrami is minister of prisoners' affairs and youth and sports.

Only one minister is carried over from the former unity government; Khouloud Daibes, who was also previously minister of tourism and now has an additional office in the new emergency government.

After the swearing in, secretary general of the Palestinian presidency, Tayib Abdul Raheem, said the decree eradicates everything which contradicts the decree and is to be implemented and published formally.

Presidential decree

President Abbas issued a presidential decree on Saturday night suspending basic Palestinian laws in order to allow an emergency government without parliamentary approval.

Abbas decided to suspend three articles of basic Palestinian law in order to extend his jurisdiction and legitimise his declaration of a state of emergency.

Acting speaker of the PLC, Ahmad Bahar, on Saturday declared that Abbas was acting illegally in his declaration of a state of emergency and formation of an emergency government.

With regards to the presidential decrees issued by Abbas, Bahar said "Every newly-formed government is illegal until it gains the PLC confidence, according to the amended articles of the basic Palestinian law. What's more, [Prime Minister] Haniyeh's unity government remains legal as a transitional government, until a new government gains the PLC's confidence."

Bahar stated that the Palestinian president based his decision to establish an emergency government on article seven of the basic law. "However," he explained, "there is no written text under article 7 subtitled 'emergency government'." He went on to detail article 67, confirming that "any new government must gain the confidence of the PLC as a precondition before they are sworn in".

In addition, article 79, paragraph 4, states that the prime minister, or any other minister, may not start their duties before gaining the approval of the PLC.

Emergency government legal?

Ma'an asked attorney Shawqi 'Ayasa about the legality of the presidential decree and he answered: "According to the basic law, the president can dismiss the Prime Minister and so, the government, and the Prime Minister can not refuse his dismissal."

He added: "According to the basic law, the president has the right to announce a state of emergency for 30 days as article 7 says. Section 113 of article 7 limited the actions which the president does not have the right to do as follows:

"He cannot disband the PLC or suspend it; he cannot suspend article 7 of the basic law. This means that the president has the right to suspend any other article of the basic law and that is what President Abbas did. In consequence, the PLC must be asked to hold a meeting in order to extend the state of emergency and that can only be ratified with a two-third majority."

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