The Hawwa Center for Culture and Arts organized a workshop on strategies and methods for strengthening the rule of law in Palestinian society. The workshop was initiated by a concern about the deterioration of safety and of respect for the law in Nablus, and is part of a series organized by Hawwa to help community organizations counter the increase of lawlessness in the city. Ghada Abdul Hadi, Director of the Hawwa Center for Culture and Arts, said that the lack of safety affects social harmony. “Societies should be based on justice,” she said, and called on the audience to analyze why people increasingly take refuge to extra-legal means to solve their problems instead of entrusting them to law enforcement and the courts. Dr. Ali Sartawi, Dean of the Faculty of Law at An-Najah National University, moderated the workshop and asked for an unbiased implementation of the law. He noted that a lack of justice is the root cause behind the current lawlessness, and expressed hope in the ability of workshops such as this one to reactivate the rule of law.
Mr. Abdul Naser Daraghmeh, the Judge of Nablus, pointed towards the Israeli occupation as the main cause for the increase of lawlessness in the city. Restrictions placed on the local police force by the Israeli occupation army prohibit the police from functioning properly. He added that the public should take action and protest the aggressions against local community organizations that took place in the past few weeks. Naser Hijawa, a lawyer, noted that the number of court clerks does not meet the increasing needs of lawyers, and that this shortage causes severe problems. He also touched on the fact that the current legal code used in Palestinian courts is one imposed by the international community after the Oslo agreements. He characterized this situation as unacceptable, and stated that laws should be formulated from within the society they concern instead of being imposed by a foreign body. Audience participation in the workshop and ensuing discussion was high. The most often voiced comment was the urgency of putting an end to lawlessness in the city. There were also calls for an immediate solution to the pressing shortage of lawyers in Nablus, and for civic associations to play a more active role in restoring order and implementing the law.
***
Sections
