Poll: 67% of Palestinians believe stabbing attacks are justified

Two-thirds of Palestinians believe an armed intifada would serve the Palestinian national interest more than negotiations with Israel • Some 65% of Palestinians believe Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should resign.

A poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on Monday found that 67% of Palestinians support the current wave of stabbings.

According to the poll, only 31% oppose the attacks.

The research was conducted by Dr. Khalil Shikaki on Dec. 10-12, with a sample size of 1,270 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Poll participants were residents of Gaza and Judea and Samaria aged 18 and up.

Some 37% of respondents said they believed the ongoing terror wave will develop into a full-fledged intifada, which two-thirds (71% in Gaza and 63% in Judea and Samaria) believed would serve the Palestinian national interest more so than negotiations with Israel.

Meanwhile, 50% believe that nonviolent struggle would achieve better results than negotiations, and 60% said they wanted an intifada in the absence of a peace process.

The poll found that 47% of Palestinians believed the terrorists shot while carrying out stabbing attacks were innocent, while half said they believed they had intentions to harm Israelis or had been in the process of doing so.

Despite popular support for the recent stabbing attacks, some 73% of Palestinians said they were against young girls participating in the attacks, as in the scissor stabbing attack in Jerusalem carried out by two teenaged girls.

Regarding the peace process, 45% of respondents said they supported a two-state solution, though only 34% said they believed it was possible.

While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas referred to the last three months of violence Monday as a “justified popular uprising,” 65% of respondents said they wanted him to resign.

Respondents indicated that if Palestinian leadership elections were held now, 51% would vote for Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, while only 41% would support Abbas. Haniyeh would also win if results were restricted to Judea and Samaria residents.

Only 35% of Palestinians reported satisfaction with Abbas, and 78% perceive the Palestinian Authority as corrupt. Only 34% of Palestinians say people can criticize the PA in the West Bank without fear.

In the event of new parliamentary elections, 71% said they would vote, with 33% supporting each Fatah and Hamas, respectively. Some 66% are not optimistic about prospects for reconciliation between the two groups.

At the same time, 70% would support a decision to ban entry of Israeli products into Palestinian areas, even if Israel banned Palestinian products in response.

December 16, 2015 | 2 Comments »

Leave a Reply

2 Comments / 2 Comments