In the Middle East, Hamas authorities in Gaza are setting up a new system to replace the courts that have stopped functioning, but news reports give somewhat differing details. Media Line said yesterday Hamas authorities have decided to set up Islamic courts to replace the former court system. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had ordered the previously appointed judges and prosecutors to stop cooperating with Hamas after it took over Gaza. Abu Obydai, leader of Hamas' Executive Force ( Tanfezya), said that the new courts will apply Sharia law, especially in marriage and divorce matters. The new courts will be supervised by a three-person panel consisting of an Islamic law expert, a military court judge and the chief of the central prison. Ali Khashan, Justice Minister in the Fatah-led Palestinian government on the West Bank, said the decision to set up the new courts was illegal.
Arab News meanwhile has a slightly different version of developments. It says that the three-person panel is being set up on a temporary basis until courts start functioning again. It will hear the hundreds of criminal complaints that would have gone to existing courts, according to Islam Shahwan, spokesman of Hamas’ Executive Force. Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the new legal panel would not impose Sharia law, but would apply it with the consent of both parties, particularly in dealing with inheritance, marriage and divorce.
