Judicial administration project in the West Bank and Gaza

Section I reviews evolving operational structures and existing discontinuities in the Gaza and West Bank legal/judicial system, while Section II assesses the feasibility of establishing a judicial training institute for the region. Section III describes the consultants" training activities, which included an inaugural conference, formation of a Palestinian Advisory Panel to oversee the consultants" activities and any possible future project, a series of seminars for judges and court administrators on concepts and procedures of judicial administration, and a demonstration project to redesign case file folders in the Gaza and Ramallah District Courts. Section IV provides recommendations for further assistance. The team recommends that until basic structural reforms of the legal system take place, establishment of a judicial training institute would be neither technically sound nor cost-effective, and could even have negative consequences. At present, the Palestinian judicial/legal system lacks unified laws and administrative procedures, consolidated and clear lines of authority, and cooperative relations between Gazan and West Bank legal communities. These issues are politically sensitive, and premature implementation of large projects could exacerbate tensions within the Palestinian legal community. Instead, USAID could undertake a series of small activities that will have tangible results and lead to the evolution of decision making structures that can effectively guide judicial reform. This report describes 11 possible activities, including modernizing the court transcription process, computerizing the clerks" offices, standardizing and modernizing the case filing systems, and improving the judicial archiving process.