Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - Today, Monday, the Palestinian Bar Association organized a central sit-in in front of the cabinet headquarters in Ramallah for two hours, in conjunction with the holding of the weekly government session, to demand stopping the enforcement of 3 decisions related to judicial affairs, while the union handed the Minister of Justice, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shalaldeh sent a message with her demands in this regard.

The secretary of the Palestinian Bar Association Council, Daoud Darawi, told Al-Quds.com: “A delegation representing the Bar Association sat during the sit-in with the representative of the government, Minister of Justice, Dr. Muhammad Al-Shalaldeh, and handed him a letter to the government stressing the need to suspend decisions by law until they are amended and agreed upon. Because its enforcement in this way will affect the litigants, not just the lawyers.”

Darawi pointed out that the sessions held by the competent authorities regarding the laws to study them confirm the conviction of the need to amend them, but "there is stubbornness and arrogance that may aim to break the movement of the Bar Association."

Darawi said, "We hope that the coming days will bear a response from the decision-maker and President Mahmoud Abbas to stop these decisions by law, and we have been open to dialogue from the beginning, but we are convinced that the decisions cannot be implemented in their current form, because this will affect the rights of litigants before the courts."

The technical committee specialized in studying the “decision by law regarding amending the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure”, which was formed by a decision of the Coordinating Council for the Justice Sector, held its second meeting yesterday, Sunday, to reach a consensual formula on the decisions by law aimed at speeding up judicial procedures and shortening the period of litigation, in light of the observations received from Bar Association and any other notes from civil society.

During the central sit-in of the Bar Association in front of the Council of Ministers headquarters today, Monday, in which about 1,200 lawyers participated with the "Lawyer Rob", the participants raised Palestinian flags and banners calling for stopping these decisions by law, and chanted slogans emphasizing their demands, and the security services closed the roads leading to the place of the sit-in, while Darawi confirmed that this closure comes in the context of regulating traffic, and that the sit-in was organized after informing the police and the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, and there was approval for the sit-in.

The central sit-in of lawyers comes, in conjunction with the suspension of work throughout the day, Monday, in front of all courts of all kinds and degrees of regular, military and administrative levels, settlement courts and the Supreme Court, including civil, administrative and military prosecutions, official departments, enforcement departments and the notary department, with the exception of procedures related to legal periods.

These protest activities for lawyers come as a continuation of the activities of the Bar Association, which have been going on for about 3 weeks, and after the failure of the dialogue session of the Coordinating Council of the Justice Sector, which was held last week, in refusal to enforce decisions by laws amending procedural laws, the implementation law, and the Civil and Commercial Procedure Code.

The Coordinating Council for the Justice Sector includes: the President of the Supreme Court as President, and the membership of the Legal Adviser to the President of the State, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General, the Director General of the Palestinian Police, the Bar Association, and the Director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights.