“Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” (Psalm 25:22)
A special Gaza War poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) reveals that the war resulted in increased popularity for Hamas and its approach of armed resistance.
The poll reported that the change in popularity for Hamas is unprecedented since 2006 and that if parliamentary and presidential elections were held today, Hamas would win.
In the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would triumph over Palestinian Authority President Mohammed Abbas, with a full 61% of those living in Gaza and Judea and Samaria saying they would vote for Haniyeh for unity government president if elections were held at this time. Support for Abbas stands at only 32 percent.
“As expected, and as we saw in previous instances during and immediately after Israeli wars with Hamas, findings show a spike in the popularity of Hamas and its leaders and a major decline in the popularity of Fatah and president Abbas. But, as in previous cases, these changes might be temporary and things might revert in the next several months to where they were before the war,” the study stated. (PCPSR)
“The overwhelming majority of the public views Hamas as the winner and Israel as the loser in this war. Furthermore, a similar majority views Hamas’ approach of armed confrontation with Israel as the most effective means of ending Israeli occupation. Indeed, an overwhelming majority of West Bankers wants to transfer “Hamas’ way” to the West Bank and rejects the demand to disarm the Islamist group or to disband the other Gazan armed groups,” it continued.
Haniyeh received his strongest support in the Palestinian Authority with 66 percent voting for him while in Gaza 43 percent voted for Abbas (and 25 percent in Judea and Samaria).
Of those responding, 79% say that they believe that Hamas won the war and 86% support the renewal of rocket fire on Israel if that country does not lift the blockade on Gaza.
The majority (57%) said that they supported the June 2014 kidnapping of the three Israeli Yeshiva students at the time of the incident (67 percent in the Gaza Strip and 45 percent in the West Bank). A majority (54%) also supported their killing (69% Gaza Strip and 42% in the West Bank), with only 42% opposed to it.
The poll also showed that 53% believe armed confrontation is the most effective means of establishing a Palestinian state, with 72% favoring Hamas’ armed approach be established in the West Bank (74% in the Gaza Strip and 70% in the West Bank).
The poll included 1,200 Palestinian respondents from 127 randomly selected locations across the West Bank and Gaza and took place between August 26th and 30th just after the latest ceasefire in Gaza.
The sudden support for Haniyeh represents a significant increase from a poll taken prior to the Gazan conflict by the same organization, when only 41 percent backed Haniyeh and 53 percent gave their support to Abbas.
It is possible that this trend will begin to reverse in the coming months, as it did after previous Israel-Hamas conflicts.
Abbas has been threatening to charge Israel with war crimes if they do not return to the bargaining table, which would include discussions about giving up territory to be included in a future Palestinian state. Economy Minister and HaBayit HaYehudi head Naftali Bennett warns that any such agreement will allow Fatah, which governs the West Bank, to construct terrorist tunnels into Israel. (unitedwithisrael)