Progress Amid Resistance

388 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA14Article 115, Basic Law.15See Article 193 of the third draft of the Constitution of the State of Palestine (March 7,2003, revised March 25, 2003), http://www.jmcc.org/documents/palestineconstitutioneng.pdf.The process of drafting a constitution in preparation for statehood began in1999 under the instruction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) ExecutiveCommittee. The first draft was completed in February 2001, just as negotiations withIsrael collapsed. See Asem Khalil, Which Constitution for the Palestinian Legal System?(Rome: Pontificia Universita’ Lateranense, 2003), 98–100, http://www.profpito.com/Th_se_Lateran_Compl_te.pdf.16Between 1949 and 1967, Egypt governed the Gaza Strip and Jordan governed the WestBank, leaving legal legacies that have persisted as the territories’ status remains unresolved.17A presidential decree in 1993 established the Palestinian Independent Commissionfor Citizens’ Rights (PICCR), with a mandate to ensure respect for citizens’ rights inPalestine. For more information, see the commission’s website, http://www.piccr.org/about/about.html.18Camilia El-Solh and Nadia Hijab, Women’s Economic Rights in the South MediterraneanRegion: A Comparative Analysis of Laws, Regulations and Practice (Egypt: Euromed, 2008),35, http://www.roleofwomenineconomiclife.net/downloads/EcoRightsAcomparativelegalEnglish.pdf.19Birzeit University Institute of Law, “Legal Status in Palestine,” http://lawcenter.birzeit.edu/iol/en/index.php?action_id=210&PHPSESSID=9fc28f3ca00d37ef6aa59d529359dc7cab042885.20Nationality Law, Israel, 5712–1952, http://www.geocities.com/savepalestinenow/israellaws/fulltext/nationalitylaw.htm; Entry into Israel Law, Israel, http://www.geocities.com/savepalestinenow/israellaws/fulltext/entryintoisraellaw.htm.21Nationality and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order), 5763–2003, July 2003,http://www.hamoked.org.il/items/1140_eng.pdf.22Anna Seifert, Separated Families (Jerusalem: Quaker Peace and Social Witness, 2005),3, available at http://www.jcdhr.ps/eng/reports-studies/2.html.23The current law permits Palestinian women over the age of 25 and Palestinian menover the age of 35 to apply for temporary visitor permits to be with their Israeli spouses.See Human Rights Watch, “Israel: Family Reunification Ruling Is Discriminatory,”news release, May 17, 2006, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/05/17/israel-familyreunification-ruling-discriminatory.24International Commission of Jurists, “Palestine,” in Attacks on Justice 2005 (Geneva: In -ternational Commission of Jurists, 2008), 13, http://www.icj.org/IMG/PALESTINE.pdf; Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR), “Judiciary: OccupiedPalestinian Territories,” UN Development Programme, http://www.pogar.org/countries/theme.aspx?t=9&cid=14.25Nour Odeh, “Hamas Stamps Its Authority on Gaza,” Al-Jazeera, October 7, 2007, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2007/10/2008525183358414169.html;Amira Hass, “Hamas Builds Separate Courts in Gaza,” Haaretz, December 12, 2007,http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/933191.html.26As of 2006, women accounted for 16.9 percent of lawyers, 12.1 percent of prosecutors,and 11.2 percent of judges. PCBS, “Gender Statistics—Decision Making and Political