Poll: Palestinians Support Rocket Attacks, A Unilateral State--And Boy, Do They Miss Arafat!

Hat tip to IMRA, who points us to The Palestinian Center For Public Opinion, which has come out with a new poll today, Poll No. 173 November 3, 2010.

A major flaw in the poll is that it does not give a breakdown between the results in Gaza vis-a-vis the West Bank, but some of the results are interesting.

Among the findings

6) Six years after the departure of the leader Yassir Arafat, do you feel that you miss him or not?
1. I strongly miss him 60.3%
2. I somewhat miss him 26.4%
3. I somehow don’t miss him 5.4%
4. I don’t miss him at all 6.3%
5. Don’t know 1.6%

According to the poll:

Dr. [Nabil] Kukali [founder and director of PCPO] said that although six years are now elapsed since the departure of the symbol [sic] leader, the Late President Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian people still miss him and his firm positions and backing. “This could be attributable to his competence of realigning the powers under his leadership,” Dr. Kukali added. He further commented that the deep nostalgic feelings of the Palestinian public towards their Late President unveils the lack of a leading personality, that may be capable of reuniting the nation. The poll finding that (56.2%) of the Palestinians are in favor of signing the Egyptian Reconciliation document is a further reference.

I would not associate the words "Arafat" and "competence" but he was charismatic--and after all: absence does make the heart grow fonder (especially given the absence of competent Arab leadership today in the West Bank and Gaza).

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7) Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr. Mahmoud Abbas is managing his post as PA President?
1. Satisfied 43.2%
2. Dissatisfied 44.7%
3. Don’t know 12.1%

Too bad there is no breakdown between results from the West Bank and Gaza. I would expect that even in the Middle East the grass is greener on the other side and Gazans would have a better view of Abbas, just as I have see polls indicating that West Bank Arabs have a better opinion of Hamas than Gazans. See below the response to question 15.

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12) Do you expect the realization of a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis next year?
1.Yes 13.5%
2. Likely 58.6%
3. No 26.2%
4. Don’t know 1.7%

I am surprised that close to 60% of Palestinians remain optimistic of a peace treaty.

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15) Some people have confidence in Hamas political leadership, others in Fateh political leadership, whilst others have no confidence in both leaderships. Which of the following statements is closer to your opinion?
1. I have confidence in Hamas leadership 24.3%
2. I have confidence in Fateh leadership 50.9%
3. I have no confidence in both leaderships 21.8%
4. I don’t know 3.5%

If Fatah leadership as a whole is viewed more favorably than Abbas himself, is that because of more positive view of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad?

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16) What is your attitude regarding the re-firing of Al-Qassam rockets from
Gaza at Israel?
1. I strongly in favor of that 13.0%
2. I somewhat in favor of that 33.2%
3. I somewhat oppose that 20.7%
4. I strongly oppose that 28.7%
5. I don't know 4.4%

While 46.2% still are in favor of firing rockets at Israeli civilians, slightly more oppose the idea. The poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research basically mirrors this, but because it breaks the results down, it shows that a higher percentage of Gazans think this way than West Bank Arabs: 60.8% vs. 41.7%

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17) In case all efforts fail to reach a settlement aiming at the revival of
peace, which of the following options is most likely to take place on the
Palestinian side:
1. Unilateral proclamation of a Palestinian state and escalation of the
violent resistance 31.3%
2. Dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and putting the world before the
responsibilities for the jurisdiction vacuum resulting from the dissolution
of the Palestinian Authority and the steering of the resistance by the
Palestinian factions 34.3%
3. Keep the status quo, i.e. the Palestinian Authority, beside developing
new strategies to conduct the Palestinian affairs 29.7%
4. I don' know 4.7%

Actually, the question is what they expect--and not necessarily whether they support the idea of unilaterally declaring a state--and it is interesting that they are roughly evenly divided among 3 choices, 2 of which are rather drastic measures.

You can read the whole poll here.

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