<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Abstract:</span></span></strong></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Palestinian society is geographically separated and politically fragmented. This is attributed to partisan affiliation and alignment, absence of conceptual and professional framework of civil society, unethical approach of Palestinian political leaders, and unconstitutional political institutions.

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... ch polarization and division have created political antagonism within elites and between factions. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The broad objective of this research is to investigate the legitimacy crisis in </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Palestine, the current political dilemma in the Palestinian Authority, and the public response to the situation. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">The research introduces direct and thorough understanding of the developing political context surrounding these issues; taking into consideration that growing deficit in legitimacy could create potentially dire consequences, particularly if present trends on the ground continue. The research promotes an analytical perspective based on legitimacy theory and exploring recent public opinion polls. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">This study formulates a constructive analysis of the failure of the Palestinian political institutions at the leadership level to meet the basic expectations of the Palestinian people and the unproductive methodology of hampering the implementation of the Basic Law concerning the Palestinian political system. It reviews the empirical dilemmas of the Palestinian Authority and eliminates several assumptions of Fatah and Hamas's - main parties - political and domestic priorities. The possibility of a new Palestinian political phenomena emerging is in the context of a new popular mobilisation lessened by the fact that both movements (Fatah and Hamas) are firmly enmeshed in the very fabric of Palestinian society through patronage networks. </span></p>