The establishment of radical Islamic groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their participation in the armed struggle against Israel, was the best thing that happened to the Palestinian people since 1948, a public opinion poll published Thursday showed.
The poll, conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), also showed that Palestinian support for the two-state solution remains as low as it was three months ago. Support for the concept of the two-state solution stands at 28% only and opposition stands at 70%. Three months ago, support for the two-state solution stood at 27%.
In addition, 52% of the Palestinians believe that the armed struggle against Israel is the most effective means to end the Israeli “occupation” and build a Palestinian state. Only 21% said they supported achieving these goals through negotiations, while 22% preferred the “popular resistance.”
The poll covered 1,270 Palestinians who were interviewed face to face and has a three percent margin of error.
When asked what has been the most positive or the best thing that has happened to the Palestinian people since the Nakba (catastrophe, the term used by Palestinians to describe the establishment of Israel in 1948), the largest percentage (24%) said that it was the establishment of Islamic movements, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their participation in the “armed struggle” against Israel. The two Iranian-backed groups were founded in the 1980s.
A person holds up a gun during the funeral of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen who were killed in an Israeli raid, in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank May 10, 2023. (credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/REUTERS)Another 21% of respondents said the eruption of the two intifadas (uprisings) in 1987 and 2000 was the best thing that happened to the Palestinian people. Eighteen percent said the establishment of the PLO in the early 1960s was the best thing that happened to the Palestinians. Only 14% said they saw the establishment of the Palestinian Authority after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 as the most positive thing.
The military and economic power of Israel
Asked to describe the standing of Israel on its 75th anniversary, 42% of the Palestinians said it was one of the most powerful countries in the world economically and militarily. By contrast, 35% believe that Israel is a weak and fragmented state on the verge of collapse.
A majority of two-thirds (66%) of the Palestinians believe that Israel won’t celebrate its 100th anniversary, according to the results of the survey.
A vast majority (71%) of the Palestinian public expressed support for the formation of armed groups such as the Lions’ Den and the Jenin Battalion. More than 85% of the respondents said the Palestinian Authority does not have the right to arrest members of the armed groups to prevent them from carrying out attacks against Israel.
The results also showed that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh remains more popular than PA President Mahmoud Abbas. If new presidential elections were held today, Haniyeh would receive 56% of the vote as opposed to 33% for Abbas.
Asked to name their preferred candidate to succeed the 87-year-old Abbas, 27% chose jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Hamas leader Haniyeh came in second and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh third.
According to the poll, a vast majority of 80% of the Palestinian public wants Abbas to resign. In the last poll conducted three months ago, 77% of the respondents said they wanted Abbas to step down.
Comments are closed.