After briefly reviewing the legal systems in the West Bank and Gaza from 1948 until the Oslo agreements, the author examines the major obstacles to creating a viable legal system in Palestine. These are the difficulties in unifying two distinct legal systems--the continental, Jordanian system in the West Bank, and the Anglo-Saxon, common law system in Gaza-- and the blurred lines of authority. The author argues that the Palestinian legal sector, where decision making has been characterized by uncertainty, diktat, and personalism, can be seen as a microcosm of PA politics. In both the legal sector and in general the PA has created a "politics of antithesis" to consolidate its own power.