'Palestinians' whine to pollsters over Sunni Arabs preferring their own interests
There's a very detailed poll of 'Palestinian' public opinion out ('Palestinian' public opinion tends to be more measurable than in other places in the Arab Islamic world - they learned from Israel). While I may come back to this poll eventually, I'd like to focus on this part for a minute. Keep in mind that this is 'Palestinian' public opinion and not Sunni Arab or other Arabs or Muslims.
(7) The Arab World, war in Syria, ISIS, and US elections:
78% say the Arab World is too preoccupied with its own concerns, internal
conflicts, and the conflict with Iran and that Palestine is no longer the
Arab’s principal or primary issue or cause. Only 20% think Palestine remains
the Arab’s principle cause.
They finally are starting to understand that the Arab world is tired of them. It's the anti-Semitic Europeans who have been carrying the ball for the 'Palestinians' for many years now. While the Arab world has not made peace with us, there is a de facto detente, and this a result of shared interests and not love. But the bottom line is that the Arab world has abandoned the 'Palestinians' even more so than it did previously.
59% believe that there is an Arab Sunni alliance with Israel against Iran
despite the continued Israeli occupation of Arab land while 30% believe that
the Arabs would not ally themselves with Israel until it ends its occupation
and allows the creation of a Palestinian state.
I'm with the majority. Just from what we know, there is an alliance, and I'd estimate that it's even stronger behind the scenes. The 30% who think that the Arabs wouldn't ally themselves with Israel to save their own necks is simply unrealistic.
In light of the escalating conflict in Syria and the emergence of three main
parties to the conflict, we asked the public for its view on the party it
views as the more preferable or the one it views as the least harmful. The
largest percentage (40%) chose the Free Syrian army, 18% chose Bashar Asad
and his army, and 5% chose the extreme religious opposition, such as ISIS.
23% said they do not like any of the three parties.
The Syrian Free Army will go down in history as one of the biggest (of many) foreign policy mistakes by the Obama administration. The FSA could have become a 'moderate' (in relative terms) group had Obama and Clinton chosen to aid it in 2011-12. They did not. Now, it's nearly as Islamist as ISIS. Why Trump isn't pounding Clinton on this....
An overwhelming majority of 88% believes that ISIS is a radical group that
does not represent true Islam and 8% believe it does represent true Islam.
4% are not sure or do not know. In the Gaza Strip, 16% (compared to 3% in
the West Bank) say ISIS represents true Islam.
79% support and 18% oppose the war waged by Arab and Western countries
against ISIS.
This is actually a pleasant surprise.
We asked the public about the US elections and which presidential candidate,
Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump, it viewed best for the Palestinians. A large
majority (70%) said there is no difference between the two candidates, while
12% said Clinton is better and 7% said Trump is better.
I'd love to see a survey of what US citizens in Israel think of the US elections.... I don't like either of them, and am tempted to 'stay home.'
After a terrorist rammed his car into a crowded Jerusalem bus stop on Monday, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen justified the terror, saying that it was part of a 'justified popular uprising.'
Israeli leaders have accused Abbas and other Palestinian leaders of
inciting the violence with incendiary rhetoric. Abbas has previously
refrained from either endorsing or condemning the attacks, often
referring to the wave of violence as understandable but not in the best
interests of the Palestinian people.
“We cannot ask the youth why they are going out (to revolt),”
Abbas said in Ramallah. “They just despaired of the two-state solution.”
A 'Palestinian' poll indicates that two thirds of the 'Palestinians' support the current wave of stabbings.
A poll released Monday found that two-thirds of Palestinians support
the current wave of stabbings. Most Palestinians believe if the current
individual attacks develop into an armed intifada, the violence might
serve Palestinian national interests more than negotiations would.
Khalil
Shikaki of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
conducted the survey, with a sample size of 1270 and a 3-percent margin
of error.
The colossal error of the Oslo process continues to result in Jewish deaths. Had it never started, the 'Palestine Liberation Organization' was on the verge of fading into oblivion. #ThanksPeres
The Hamas-Fatah marriage may once again be over before it starts. 'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen is making some noises about not trusting Hamas.
“We won’t accept the continuation of the situation with Hamas as it is now and in this shape,” he said. “There must be one authority and one regime.”
Abbas accused Hamas of running its own “shadow government” in the Gaza Strip. “They have 27 directors-general of ministries and they are running the Gaza Strip,” he said. “The national consensus government can’t do anything on the ground.”
Egyptian news website al-Dostor reported that Abbas will make an announcement on Sunday to the Arab League regarding the agreement.
JPost also has a slightly different version of the casualty report I cited earlier.
Abbas claimed that Hamas lost “only” 50 of its men during the war, while 861 men belonging to his Fatah faction were killed. He did not say how the Fatah men were killed and by who.
Either way the result is the same - over 850 terrorists killed not counting Islamic Jihad.
"[I]f the government will not be unified, (in terms of) the weapons and
laws in the West Bank and Gaza, there won't be any partnership or
discussion with the (Hamas) organization."
"I don't trust Hamas much because they change their words all the
time. There must be a unified Palestinian Authority," remarked Abbas.
The PA chairman also confirmed reports of a stormy meeting he
had with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal in Qatar on August 21, in
which he slammed the Hamas leader for his organization's coup attempt against Abbas in Judea and Samaria.
"You are smuggling weapons, explosives and money to the (West) Bank - and not to fight Israel, but to hold a coup against the (Palestinian) Authority," Abbas reportedly said in his tirade on Mashaal.
Commenting on the meeting Saturday night, Abbas remarked "Hamas has been trying to cause the Palestinian Authority to fail since the day it was formed."
Hamas said that more than 40 of its members and supporters have been rounded up by the PA since the end of Operation protective Edge.
Another 30 Hamas activists were also summoned for interrogation, Hamas said.
On Saturday, Hamas representative Hussam Badran condemned the PA clampdown and called on all those who have been summoned for interrogation not to report.
Badran said that the crackdown was “unjustified” and constituted a “blow to the blood of Palestinian martyrs and unity."
The PA has refused to comment on the current crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank.
And I'm sure the fact that the latest poll that shows that Hamas would win a 'Palestinian election' has nothing to do with the coming collapse of the 'unity government.' Faster... faster...
PSR observes that, “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.” PSR adds:
It is worth noting that the size of the change in favor
of Hamas is unprecedented since 2006. Indeed, if presidential elections
were to take place today, Ismail Haniyeh would easily win over Abbas and
Hamas would win the largest percentage of the popular vote in
parliamentary elections. … 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. Findings also indicate that the public see Iran, Turkey, and
Qatar as the most instrumental in supporting Hamas and helping Gazans
remain steadfast against the Israeli attacks. By contrast, Egypt’s role
is seen as week and unhelpful. Indeed, a majority believes that Egypt
played a negative role in the ceasefire negotiations.
That change is clear in the approval ratings given to
Hamas and its leaders compared to those given to the Palestinian
Authority. Hamas received 88% approval for its performance during the
war, and its political chief Khaled Mashaal won 78% approval. The
Palestinian Authority came in significantly lower, with just 36%
approval; its leaders, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami
Hamdallah, received 39% and 35%, respectively. …
Paradoxically, and worryingly for Israel, Hamas received higher
support in the PA-controlled West Bank than it did in Gaza. The poll
found that if elections were held today, former Hamas prime minister
Ismail Haniyeh would easily defeat Abbas with 61% of the popular vote
versus 32%. Sixty-six percent of respondents in the West Bank said they
supported Haniyeh, compared to 53% in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank,
Abbas received just 25% approval, as opposed to 43% in Gaza. Overall
support for the Palestinian Authority president plummeted 11% points in
two months, from 50% in June to 39% in August, the poll found
The Times also notes that this is the first time that Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh outpolled convicted terrorist Marwan Barghouti, with the
former favored by 49% to 45% for the presidency of the Palestinian
Authority.
Well, at least this ensures that there won't be 'Palestinian elections' for a while.
There's a new poll of 'Palestinians' out asking whom they believe was deterred by the results of Operation Protective Edge. Guess what? It's not Hamas.
Dr. Kukali: “The PA-President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) enjoys the
satisfaction of his people in Gaza Strip with his performance”.
The key poll results are:
(61.2%) of the Palestinians oppose the deployment of UN-multi-national
forces in Gaza Strip.
(54.0%) are satisfied with the performance of the PA-president “Abu Mazen”.
(64.7%) rated the stances of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as
“negative”. (88.9%) support the firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel.
(58.1%) are content with the ICRC performance, (71.2 %) with that of the
UNRWA. (75.4%) believe that the deterrence of the Palestinian Resistance has
increased.
Shocka: Most 'Palestinians' oppose 'two-state solution'
Greetings from 36,000 feet above flyover country between New York and... Chicago.
When 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen made his 'unity agreement' with his fellow terrorists at Hamas, he had perfectly gauged the mood of the 'Palestinian people.' A new poll shows that most 'Palestinians' do not accept a 'two-state solution' or any other 'solution' that leaves a Jewish state in existence. I don;t know what it will take to make the world finally get it (In fact, I doubt anything can convince them: There will be no 'two-state solution.'
Sixty percent of those polled, including 55% in the West Bank and 68%
in Gaza, reject permanently accepting Israel’s existence and instead
suggest their leaders “work toward reclaiming all of historic
Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Two-thirds of those polled support continued “resistance” against the
Jewish state. Consequentially, those who say they support a two-state
solution view such a move as “part of a ‘program of stages’ to liberate
all of historic Palestine later.”
The survey, conducted throughout the Palestinian territories, was
commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and was
conducted by a leading Palestinian pollster from June 15 to June 17.
The Washington Institute characterized the poll’s results as a sudden,
hardline shift within the Palestinian community. It also presented the
pragmatism revealed in the minutia of the survey: 80% of Palestinians
would “definitely” or “probably” be in favor of greater job
opportunities in Israel, and 70% of Gazans strongly favor Hamas
maintaining its cease-fire with the IDF – despite generally favoring
resistance.
The institute’s scholars concluded from the report that “US policy
should seriously consider abandoning all hope for now of a permanent
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal,” and instead should “focus on immediate
steps to lower tensions” and on improving conditions on the ground.
...
The State Department’s special envoy to that effort was Martin Indyk, founder of the Washington Institute.
I cannot help but wonder whether Indyk himself will accept those results.
The poll, was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion
(PCPO) among 1015 residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza with a 3% margin
of error.
Barghouti is currently serving multiple life sentences in an
Israeli prison for his role planning numerous deadly terrorist attacks.
The poll found that if he was free, he would enjoy an advantage in the
race for president, regardless of who he was matched against.
When posed against Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas, 33% said they would vote for Barghouti with 29% going for Abbas.
Likewise, when compared against Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Barghouti
bagged almost 50%, with Haniyeh at a mere 16%.
PCPO president and founder Nabil Kukali, ignoring Barghouti's lethal terrorism, remarked "it's time that Mr. Barghouti should be released from prison to give him the opportunity to contest the elections."
Abbas in March demanded Barghouti's release as a condition of the
peace talks, in what was speculated as indicating that Abbas, whose term
in office ended in January 2009, saw the arch-terrorist as his successor.
The poll also compared Fatah, the faction of Abbas and Barghouti, and Hamas, which violently forced Fatah out of Gaza in 2007.
According to the results Fatah would get 39% of the vote, with Hamas
far behind at 15%. 80% of respondents felt elections would "certainly"
or "likely" be held within six months of the unity government's
formation.
It's surreal to even be talking about this as if it's going to happen. What could go wrong?
The poll, which covered some 1,000 Palestinians from the West Bank,
east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, was conducted by the Palestinian Center
for Public Opinion between November 27 and December 10.
The survey showed that 56 percent of the Palestinians expect a fresh confrontation with Israel.
According
to the poll, 51% of respondents expressed opposition to the talks with
Israel, while only 33% supported their continuation.
Another 56% of respondents said they did not expect the negotiations to lead to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The poll showed that 57% of Palestinians expect the talks with Israel to fail as opposed to only 19% who predicted success.
Another
53% of respondents said they did not believe that the Israeli
government is genuinely interested in the success of the peace talks,
the survey showed.
I guess US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has done a great job in laying the groundwork for these talks, hasn't he?
Forget the polls: If elections were held in the 'West Bank' Hamas would win
Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA interviews Said Kanan, of the Center for Palestine Research and Studies. According to Kanan, the polls are all wrong, and if elections were held in the 'West Bank' (Judea and Samaria) today, Hamas would win.
And don't hold your breath waiting for a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation either.
In an earlier post, I discussed a disturbing poll that shows that the vast majority of 'Palestinians' regard a 'Palestinian state' as a phase on the way to destroying the Jewish one. Evelyn Gordon points out what Israel's leadership should be learning from that poll.
But perhaps even scarier than the poll itself was the delusional response of Israeli leaders when briefed on it by pollster Stanley Greenberg and Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi of The Israel Project, which commissioned it. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli leaders said “they were encouraged by Palestinian support for talks.” Indeed, 65 percent of respondents preferred talks to violence as a tactic for achieving their goals. But what good is that if there’s nothing to talk about – which there isn’t as long as Palestinians deny the Jewish state’s right to exist?
...
The only way to make progress is for Israel to keep explaining the conflict’s real cause until the world finally internalizes it and begins addressing it. For Palestinians will never accept a Jewish state unless convinced it’s necessary, and the only way to so convince them is for the world to make clear that it won’t support Palestinian statehood absent such acceptance.
For that reason, Netanyahu was also right when he told Bulgaria’s foreign minister a few days later peace would come faster if Europe stopped treating Palestinians “like a spoiled child” and instead began to “tell the Palestinians the truth” about the concessions they will need to make for any agreement – like recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and dropping their demand to resettle Palestinian refugees in Israel – instead of only spelling out the concessions it wants Israel to make. For again, as long as the international community refuses to say otherwise, Palestinian will keep thinking they can secure Israel’s retreat from the territories without having to give up their quest for its destruction.
The problem is even Netanyahu himself rarely follows his own advice. Instead, he and other Israelis leaders endlessly declare the Palestinians really want peace, and thereby allow the world to maintain this fiction. Indeed, had Israel not actively assisted the Palestinians in spreading this lie, it never would have “become so deeply entrenched.”
Evelyn Gordon decries the selective reading that the mainstream media undertakes with 'Palestinian' polls in order to perpetuate the myth of a 'Palestinian' desire for peace.
Here, for instance, is how DPA and Haaretz reported the poll; here’s The Media Line’s version; here’s AFP. All correctly reported Palestinians prefer incumbent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to Hamas’ candidate by a two-to-one margin; the first two also noted that 61 percent want the new unity government to follow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ peace policies, while only 18 percent favor Hamas’s policies. The clear implication is most Palestinians are moderates who want peace with Israel: They prefer Fayyad to Hamas and Abbas’ stated support for a deal to Hamas’ vocal opposition.
But here’s the finding none of these media outlets bothered to report: Asked what the Palestinians’ “most vital” goals were, 40 percent chose securing “the right of return of refugees to their 1948 towns and villages” as the “second most vital Palestinian goal” and another 26 percent deemed it the “first most vital Palestinian goal.” This issue outpolled all the other options in the second-place slot, while only “end the Israeli occupation” outranked it in the first-place slot.
A “return of refugees to their 1948 towns” – i.e. to pre-1967 Israel – is clearly incompatible with a two-state solution: Relocating 4.8 million refugees and their descendants to pre-1967 Israel would, when combined with Israel’s 1.6 million existing Arab citizens, turn Israel into a second Palestinian-majority state, thereby eliminating the world’s only Jewish one. Yet Abbas cannot concede the “right of return” in negotiations when 66 percent of his people deem it one of the two “most vital Palestinian goals”; no leader anywhere could. Thus as long as most Palestinians view the “right of return” as crucial, no peace agreement will be possible.
Gordon goes on to point out - correctly - that while Israelis have been indoctrinated with the meme that it is necessary to compromise for peace, the 'Palestinians' have changed nothing in their approach in the last 18 years. Israelis were brainwashed to see the viewpoint of the 'other' while the 'Palestinians,' free to control their own media, have incited their people to unprecedented levels of Jew-hatred.
'Everyone knows' that a 'final status' agreement between Israel and the 'Palestinians' will look roughly like the Clinton parameters of December 2000: A 'Palestinian state' more or less along the 1967 borders, some land swap with Israel to avoid massive uprooting of revenants, a shared Jerusalem as capital of both states, no right of return for 'Palestinian refugees.' Is that a fair summary of what 'everyone knows'?
The summary has a slight problem. A new survey shows that a solid majority of 'Palestinians' would reject that deal, while a majority of Israelis would accept it subject to the 'Palestinian state' being demilitarized and the number of Jews being uprooted being minimized. The bottom line: The 'Palestinians' reject what 'everyone knows' is the 'solution.'
A new poll conducted jointly by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace shows that the Palestinian public opposes such a solution by a lopsided majority.
The poll presented a package modeled on the Clinton Parameters: (1) an Israeli withdrawal from more than 97 percent of the West Bank and a land swap for the remaining 2-3 percent; (2) a Palestinian state with a “strong security force” but no army, with a multinational force to ensure security; (3) Palestinian sovereignty over land, water, and airspace, but an Israeli right to use the airspace for training purposes and to maintain two West Bank early-warning stations for 15 years; (4) a capital in East Jerusalem and sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and the Old City (other than the Jewish Quarter and the “Wailing Wall”); and (5) a “right of return” for refugees to the new state and compensation for their “refugeehood” and loss of property.
The package was opposed by 58 percent of the Palestinians, with only 40 percent favoring it.
It was not a case of one or more individual elements in the package causing a problem. Each of the five elements was polled separately; not one of them commanded majority support.
Did someone forget to tell the 'Palestinians' what everyone knows? If not, why won't they just get with the program? What could go wrong?
A poll by Agence France Presse indicates that a majority of 'Palestinians' favor dismantling the 'Palestinian Authority' in light of the failure of the 'peace process.'
According to the poll, conducted by site banner AFP News Radio 58% favor breaking up the Palestinian National Authority if the negotiations failed, while 34% felt that this is not the right solution.
8% of respondents say they do not know.
About 474 people voted on this poll question: Do you think that the solution in the event of continuing stalemate is dissolution and the return of the situation as it was before 1993?.
So if we're going back to the way the situation was before 1993, do we get to send Abu Bluff and his friends back to Tunis? Can we make them return all their weapons? Heh.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
