Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Mon 07 Jul 2007Constitution's drafters accuse Abbas of exceeding his powersMiddle East:The senior lawyers who wrote the interim Palestinian constitution say President Mahmoud Abbas exceeded his powers in appointing an emergency government to replace a Hamas-led cabinet without parliamentary approval.The Palestinian constitutional lawyer who led the framing of the Basic Law accused some political leaders of "destroying" its foundation and expressed dismay at how western powers responded to the free election of a Hamas government headed by the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, by imposing a crippling boycott.