 Meanwhile the outgoing Palestinian parliament met Monday for its final session and passed a law giving President Mahmoud Abbas increased powers - but the Islamic Hamas movement, winners of last month's legislative elections, said it would contest the changes. Under the new law, the President of the Palestinian Authority no longer needs the approval of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court. This increases his control over the influential court, which has the power to block legislation from parliament. Hamas objected to a legislative session being held between the elections and the swearing-in of the new parliament in which it will hold an absolute majority. Several Hamas legislators-elect who attended the session voiced fears that the outgoing parliament, dominated during its ten-year tenure by Abbas' Fatah party, was trying to pass laws which would give the president more power at the expense of the legislature. They said they will contest the changes when the new parliament begins its tenure Saturday. |