Most Palestinians Prefer Violence Over Negotiations

[Frodo]

Poll Shows Most Palestinians Favor Violence Over Talks

By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: March 19, 2008

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians support the attack this month on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers, an indication of the alarming level of Israeli-Palestinian tension in recent weeks.

The survey also shows unprecedented support for the shooting of rockets on Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip and for the end of the peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

The pollster, Khalil Shikaki, said he was shocked because the survey showed greater support for violence than any other he had conducted over the past 15 years in the Palestinian areas. Never before, he said, had a majority favored an end to negotiations or the shooting of rockets at Israel.

“There is real reason to be concerned,” Mr. Shikaki said in an interview at his West Bank office. His Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which conducts a survey every three months, is widely viewed as among the few independent and reliable gauges of Palestinian public opinion.

His explanation for the shift, one widely reflected in the Palestinian media, is that recent actions by Israel, especially attacks on Gaza that killed nearly 130 people, an undercover operation in Bethlehem that killed four militants and the announced expansion of several West Bank settlements, have led to despair and rage among average Palestinians who thirst for revenge.

Mr. Shikaki’s poll also showed that the militant Islamist group Hamas, which Israel and the United States have been trying to isolate, is gaining popularity in the West Bank while its American-backed rival, the more secular Fatah, is losing ground. Asked for whom they would vote for president, 46 percent chose Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, the current president, while 47 percent chose Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Three months ago, Mr. Abbas was ahead 56 percent to 37 percent. After Hamas forces pushed Fatah forces out of Gaza last summer, Mr. Shikaki’s polls showed the Palestinian public to be disillusioned with Hamas and in the subsequent months, many argued that Mr. Abbas, with the support of Washington and Israel, had an opportunity to win public support by easing living conditions and advancing in negotiations. That has not happened.

According to the poll, conducted last week with 1,270 Palestinians in face-to-face interviews, 84 percent supported the March 6 attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, one of Israel’s most prominent centers of religious Zionism and ideological wellspring of the settler movement in the West Bank. Mr. Shikaki said that this is the single highest support for an act of violence in his 15 years of polling here. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points

On negotiations between Ehud Olmert, prime minister of Israel, and Mr. Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, 75 percent said they were without benefit and should be terminated. Regarding the thousands of rockets that have been launched on Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon, 64 percent support it.

The poll did show support for a two-state solution over the long term with 66 percent favoring normalized relations with Israel if it returned all land won in 1967 and a Palestinian state was established. But such a deal seems a long way off now.

“The anger that this poll is registering is about equal to that at the very height of the second intifada,” Mr. Shikaki said, referring to the years just after 2000 when suicide attacks on Israel and Israeli strikes on Palestinian forces reached new heights. “I am very worried about what is coming.”

[dead0man]

Also, sky is blue and ice is cold.

[Iosif is a COTHO]

Very, very disappointing. But...it's a poll.


And unlike you, I;m not going to judge people who have treated like sh**t for 60 years.

[Tory]

Very, very disappointing. But...it's a poll.


And unlike you, I'm not going to judge people who have treated like sh**t for 60 years.

The Palestinians have been treated far better than they would if they had an opponent as uncivilized as they are.

And this poll isn't really news, Arafat preferred violence to an independent viable Palestinian state and faced no domestic opposition.

[Iosif is a COTHO]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[GMantis]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

And we all know how likely this is...

[dead0man]

..and what would continue happening if it did.

[GMantis]

..and what would continue happening if it did.

Why are you're so conviced of this?

[Silent Hunter]

There are certain organisations that don't want Israel full stop.

What I don't get is why Fatah, if they're serious about peace, haven't started nicking terrorists in the West Bank. Or Hamas stopping the rockets.

[dead0man]

..and what would continue happening if it did.

Why are you're so conviced of this?

They've never stopped before.

[opebo]

Good for them - considering what 'negotiations' would get them (extra beans in the ghetto?).  It is possible that if someone slips them a nuke someday things might play out more evenly, so huzzah for their stick-to-it-ivness in the face of death.

[??????????]

The religion of peace at work again.

[Keystone Phil]

The religion of peace at work again.

Interesting comment coming from someone who is part Palestinian, correct?

[Beet]

For there to be peace there has to be real momentum for peace, and sadly, that will not happen without significant changes in opinion in the leadership of both sides.

[phk]

The religion of peace at work again.

Interesting comment coming from someone who is part Palestinian, correct?

Even more interesting comment coming from someone who is part Palestinian Christian. I wonder if he would dare call George Habash's religion the "religion of death".

[Iosif is a COTHO]

..and what would continue happening if it did.

Why are you're so conviced of this?

They've never stopped before.

Yeah, yeah, we get the idea. Palestinians are clearly sub-human scum who don't deserve their own state. Any rights they have can only be granted by the wonderful charity of Israel, if Israel feels like it. I understand now.

[dead0man]

They can have their own state if they want it and are willing to accept Israel as a neighbor.  They've chosen another path.  I don't think they're subhuman, I feel sorry for them.  They've been given a raw deal by everybody, especially their own leadership.

[Iosif is a COTHO]

I would agree they've suffered from bad leaders. As Edward Said used to say, where is the Palestinian Mandela? But my feelings are that they deserve their own state, regardless of whether Israel thinks they should have one or not, and that the vast majority of Palestinians would be satisfied with that. The Islamists would lose their growing influence over the independence movement, hopefully, and the removal of Israeli military influence over the lives of Palestinians would lead to a slow improvement in relations.

[dead0man]

The Israeli military hasn't been in control of Gaza since Sep 2005.  The rockets are still being shot at civilians.  The Islamists didn't lose control when this happened, Hamas won the elections.  That seems like growing influence to me.  Israel has already done what you want them to do and it's only gotten worse.  What else do they need to do?  Whatever it is there is one thing that is certain.  The terrorits will keep firing rockets at civilians and the local authorities won't stop them.

[dead0man]

They're declaring war on Denmark now.  cite


'cause, as you know, people without a state have nothing better to do than to declare war on a group of people thousands of miles away because of a cartoon.

[??????????]

The religion of peace at work again.

Interesting comment coming from someone who is part Palestinian, correct?

Even my family members who were born and raised there completely agree with me. They flat out told me growing up that Muslims are, "insane" or "touched".