Palestine: Lawyering between Colonisation and the Struggle for Professional Independence

Abstract

Regulation of the Palestinian legal profession dates from the arrival of British forces during World War I and is an amalgam of the legal systems that have governed Palestine since its detachment from the Ottoman Empire (British, Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian) (Qafisheh 2013). Under the Ottoman Empire, the profession was codified by the Case Agents (Advocates) Law of 14 January 1876 (Ramadan 1928: vol 5, 346), enacted during efforts to modernise the legal system, chiefly by importing legislation from Europe (Milhem 2014: 17 – 51). In 1871, a law school was opened in Istanbul (Bisharat 1989: 20), from which a number of Palestinians graduated (Likhovski 2016: 178).

This chapter analyses the current Palestinian legal profession in historical perspective. Part II discusses its emergence under British rule (1917 – 48), in the West Bank after its annexation by Jordan and in Gaza under Egyptian administration (1948 – 67), and under Israeli occupation (1967 – 93). Part III deals with the profession under Palestinian rule from 1994 to the adoption of the fi rst Palestinian Advocates Law in 1999 and the formation of the Palestinian Bar Association (PBA), until now. Parts IV and V explore thequalifi cations to practise law and legal ethics in Palestine today.