Palestinian support has increased dramatically for Hamas, and has dropped significantly for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction, according to a public opinion poll published on Tuesday.
The poll showed that 77% of Palestinians believed that Hamas emerged the winner in last month’s 11-day war with Israel, while 65% thought that the Islamic movement achieved its declared goal in firing rockets at Israel: to stop the eviction of Arab families from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and to bring an end to Israeli “restrictions” on Muslim access to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount.
Conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the poll covered 1,200 Palestinians, has a margin of error of 3%, and was conducted between June 9 and 12.
The results showed that 72% of those polled thought that Hamas launched rockets at Israeli cities in defense of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque. Only 9% credited cancellation of the Palestinian general elections.
According to the poll, if new Palestinian presidential elections were held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would get 59% of the votes, and Abbas 27%. Hamas would also win in a parliamentary election, the poll found. More than 40% said they would cast their ballots for Hamas, as opposed to 30% for Fatah.
However, if the presidential election was between jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Haniyeh, Barghouti would receive 51% and Haniyeh 26%.
Two-thirds of the Palestinian public believed that Abbas delayed the parliamentary and presidential elections because he was worried about the results, while 25% thought he postponed them because Israel refused to allow the vote to take place in east Jerusalem. Some 65% said they oppose Abbas’s decision, taken in April.
The poll also found that 67% felt the chances of establishing a Palestinian state in the next five years are slim or nonexistent, and 58% opposed the two-state solution. A majority of 61% believed that it is no longer feasible, due to the expansion of West Bank settlements. Nearly 40% of those surveyed said that they prefer to wage “armed struggle” against Israel; only 27% said that they prefer reaching a peace agreement. Under the current circumstances, 70% said they oppose unconditional resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Lastly, the poll found that 69% were not optimistic about the new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.