Building a Palestinian constitution

The Palestinian national movement has been frustrated in decades of efforts to establish a sovereign state. But connected with those efforts have been a series of underappreciated constitutional efforts. Because those efforts have been seen as cases of drafting a constitution, they are largely seen as unsuccessful and even quixotic. But viewed as efforts at constitution building – a more open-ended process of cultivating constitutional values, practices and consciousness – the efforts can be seen more positively. Palestinian constitution drafting has failed to date since it has not produced a document for a sovereign entity. Palestinian constitutional building has a much more uneven record, characterized by periodic bursts of activities but still afflicted by shortcomings in terms of public engagement and official practice. In this paper, we review past constitutional efforts, current practice and future possibilities from a constitution-building perspective and suggest specific steps that can be taken even in a prevailing situation that provokes justifiable despair.