RAMALLAH, November 10, 2009 (WAFA)- Results of a public opinion poll carried out by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) show that 70 percent of the Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza have a positive attitude towards Abbas’s latest speech (5/11/2009). About73 percent of respondents in Gaza positively evaluated the speech compared with 68 percent in the West Bank.
About 74 percent opposed the call by the United States to the Israelis and Palestinians to go back to the negotiations without (pre-conditions) including the Palestinian request to freeze the settlements’ expansion. In Gaza, the opposition rate was at 77 percent compared with 72 percent in the West Bank.
A majority (74 percent) support the President’s call for legislative and presidential elections on January 24, 2010.
If presidential elections took place today, Abbas would receive 65 percent of the vote, whereas Haniyah would receive 35 percent, (and alternatively Khaled Masha’l would receive less than 30 percent).
In a legislative election, Fateh will receive 56 percent and Hamas will receive 27 percent.
According to the poll 78 percent support the principles and proposals presented in the President’s latest speech, while 77 percent, as well, support the President’s call for the Palestinians to calmly and objectively evaluate the current period that the Palestinian cause is going through. The support for that is higher (83 percent) in Gaza compared to 71 percent in the West Bank.
76 percent of the respondents believe that “the continuation of the building of Israeli settlements undermines the credibility of negotiations” (as stated in the President speech). While 60 percent supported the President’s statement that “the most dangerous event that took place during the last five years is the Hamas take-over of authority in Gaza”. Interestingly, 66 percent of the respondents in Gaza support this statement.
In Gaza, 59 percent believe that”Hamas continuously disrupts the reconciliation efforts under false pretences” as stated by Abbas.
About 48 percent blamed Hamas for curtailing the reconciliations efforts. As for the Egyptian role in the reconciliation process, 58 percent evaluate it positively.
55 percent of the respondents support the President’s statement in his speech “The fact that Hamas did not sign the Egyptian treaty, reinforces the Israeli assertions about the non existence of a Palestinian partner”. Almost 66 percent of the respondents in Gaza agree with this statement.
Moreover, 70 percent support the President’s statement that calls upon “Hamas leaders to review their policies and practices”. As much as 76 percent of Gaza respondents call upon the Hamas leaders to do that.
60 percent of the respondents believe that the criticism waged by Hamas against the President is exaggerated. About 68 percent of the respondents in Gaza share this view.
AWRAD had carried out this poll on November 7 after President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech. We conducted (face- to- face) interviews with a representative random sample of 1000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It said the Margin of Error is +3%.
