A new Fafo survey says Palestinians believe Hamas should negotiate with Israel. A majority of Palestinians think Western financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is doing more harm than good; two thirds (69 %) of those polled in February and March by Fafo, a Norwegian research institute, believe that aid to the PA contributes to widening the rift between Fatah and Hamas. A similar proportion (63 %) thinks that aid to the PA promotes corruption, and the same number believes it has very little to no effect on poverty alleviation. Only a third of those polled felt aid to the PA had a positive impact on services. At the same time, Palestinians report steadily declining economic situations at home. As might be expected, the socio-economic picture is worst in Gaza. Overall, Fafo’s studies over the last year point to a constant decline in household economies, painting a picture of coping systems being pushed to the limits. The Oslo-based Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies conducted a survey measuring living conditions and opinions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 22 February and 4th March 2008. The survey showed a clear preference among Palestinians for direct negotiations between Hamas and Israel, as well as between Hamas and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. A clear majority of Palestinians, including many Hamas voters, supports direct negotiations between Hamas and Israel. The support is strongest for Hamas-Israel negotiations on release of prisoners (84 %), but there is also considerable support for negotiations on lifting the siege of Gaza (66 %), for a long-term truce (64 %) and for peace negotiations (54 %). A large majority of the respondents is of the opinion that Hamas and Fatah should initiate negotiations and reconcile: 60 % believe that they should negotiate without any preconditions. There are no regional differences regarding this question, but a majority of Hamas voters think that negotiations should take place without preconditions, while Fatah’s supporters in general think that it should be conditional. However, people are pessimistic in regard to reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas under present circumstances: 70 % of the respondents fear that the West Bank and Gaza will remain separated for years. To View the Full Result as PDF (228 KB)
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By: PCPO
Date: 24/11/2020
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Poll # 206: (81 %) of the Palestinians do not – to various degrees – trust the commitments of Israel and its obligations to the agreements signed with the Palestinian Authority
The latest poll on the Palestinian public opinion prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali revealed the following:
Beit Sahour –Public Relations’ Section: The latest poll prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali and conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (www.pcpo.org) during the period 19 – 22 November 2020 covered a random sample of (516) Palestinian respondents representing the various demographic specimens of Palestinians (18 years and above) living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. It revealed that the Palestinians are almost split between agreeing to and opposing the return of the relations with Israel and the resumption of the security coordination with it, albeit the opposition scale outweighs a little. This poll, Dr. Kukali said, focuses mainly on the decision of the Palestinian Authority to resume the relations with Israel that are terminated since 5/9/2020 in response to the intention of the Israeli government to annex about 30 % of the area of the West Bank with full support of the US administration under President Donald Trump. Dr. Kukali further noted that the motivation to take this courageous step by the Palestinian Authority was a letter from the Israeli government addressed to the PA confirming its willingness to abide by all the agreements signed with the PA. Dr. Kukali added that the majority of the Palestinian people, in this poll, expressed however their mistrust of Israel’s intentions, as its actions on the ground speak another language. Nevertheless, the Palestinian people are still hopeful that they will have one day their own independent and sovereign State of Palestine with East Jerusalem it’s capital. Dr. N. Kukali, President and founder of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, said the details of the key results of this poll are as follows: Trusting Israel Responding to the question: “What is the extent of your trust to Israel’s commitments and its obligations to the agreements previously signed with the Palestinian Authority?” (71 %) said “I’m not so sure”, (10 %) said “I’m not sure at all”, (9 %) “somewhat sure”, (6 %) “quite sure” and (4 %) said “I don’t know”. Return of the relations with Israel With regard to the question: “Do you agree to the return of the relations with Israel to their former status as they have been before 5/19/2020, or not?” (59 %) said “I oppose”, (38 %) “agree”, and (3 %) said “I don’t know”. Reasons of agreeing to the return of the relations with Israel In respect of the question: “What are the reasons that let you agree to the return of the relations with Israel?”, (5.6 %) said “crisis of the salary payment of employees”, (4.4 %) said “security stability and calm”, (26.9 %) said “improvement of the economic situation”, (9.4 %) “peace and stability”, (16.9 %) “permits and work in Israel”, (2.5 %) “the clearance funds”, (3.8 %) “permits to the hospitals and admission of patients for treatment”, (3.8 %) “facilitation of livelihood”, (8.8 %) said “lifting the siege from Gaza and opening the border-crossings”, (6.9 %) “due to the life connected with Israel”, (7.5 %) “for serving the citizens” and (3.5 %) “no reason”. Security coordination with Israel (55 %) of the Palestinians oppose the resumption of the security coordination with Israel, whilst (40 %) agree to it, and (5 %) declined to respond. Resumption of the peace negotiations (52 %) of the Palestinian public oppose the resumption of the peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel at present, whilst (43 %) of them agree to it and (5 %) declined to respond. The economic situation (61 %) of the Palestinian public assessed their economic situation at present as “bad”, (32 %) as “fair” (middle) and only (7 %) as “good”. Survey overview Dr. Nabil Kukali, said that the data for this survey has been collected by using CATI, an effective method for data collection in quantitative researches conducted by phone. By this method, questions are addressed to respondents from a previously designed questionnaire. The survey sample is randomly taken in accordance with a long experienced methodology applied by PCPO covering (516) respondents, (311) are from the West Bank and (205) from Gaza Strip. Dr. Kukali has further indicated that the margin of error was (±4.38 %) at a significance level of (95.0%). The sample allotment with respect to the residential areas was as follows: (60.3 %) in the West Bank, incl. Eastern Jerusalem and (39.7 %) in Gaza Strip. The average age of the respondents was (32.4) years.
By: Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR)
Date: 17/09/2020
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Public Opinion Poll No (77) - The overwhelming majority of the Palestinians views the decision of the UAE to normalize relations with Israel as a betrayal or abandonment of the Palestinian cause
The overwhelming majority of the Palestinians views the decision of the UAE to normalize relations with Israel as a betrayal or abandonment of the Palestinian cause, one that serves only the interests of Israel. A similar majority thinks that Saudi Arabia and Egypt, by endorsing that normalization, have in effect abandoned the Palestinian leadership. But most Palestinians also place the blame on themselves because they are divided and have normalized relations with Israel long before others 9-12 September 2020 This poll has been conducted in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Ramallah These are the results of the latest poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip between 9-12 September 2020. The period before the conduct of the poll witnessed several developments including a US announcement about an agreement between the UAE and Israel to normalize relations between the two countries. This normalization agreement stipulated an Israeli suspension or delay of the planned annexation of parts of the West Bank. The period also witnessed a rise in the daily number of coronavirus infections and continued stalemate in Palestinian-Israeli relations that followed a PA decision to sever all security and civil links with Israel which led during the past months to a significant financial loss to the PA. This PA decision came in response to an Israeli announcement about the intention to annex about 30% of the West Bank. This press release addresses these issues and covers other matters such as Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections, general conditions in the Palestinian territories, the peace process and the future possible directions for Palestinians in the absence of a viable peace process. Total size of the sample is 1270 adults interviewed face to face in 127 randomly selected locations. Margin of error is +/-3%. For further details, contact PSR director, Dr. Khalil Shikaki, or Walid Ladadweh at tel. 02-296 4933 or email pcpsr@pcpsr.org. Main Findings: Finding of the September 2020 poll show a great Palestinian public anger with the UAE decision to normalize relations with Israel viewing it as serving only the interests of Israel and as a betrayal or an abandonment of the Palestinian cause and at the same time as a big failure of Palestinian diplomacy. Additionally, the overwhelming majority estimates that the Palestinian leadership has lost its Arab allies as Saudi Arabia will soon follow the UAE in normalizing relations and that Egypt, by endorsing the deal, has in effect abandoned PA president Mahmoud Abbas. Nonetheless, most believe that the majority of the Arab public is opposed to the normalization deal. Findings show that the public blames the Palestinians themselves for this development: the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the fact that they had normalized relations with Israel before many others may have hastened the arrival of this day. The public does not show an appreciation of the fact that the UAE-Israel deal requires the suspension of the annexation plan. The reason for this is the fact that three quarters think that the suspension is only temporary and will soon take place, the normalization deal notwithstanding. Moreover, based on this assessment, the public is opposed to the restoration of PA-Israel security coordination despite the fact that half of the public wishes to restore civil and fiscal relations between the two sides. Findings also show a significant decline in support for the two-state solution compared to the situation three months ago. They also show that the consensus in rejecting the Trump plan, the deal of the century, first documented in PSR’s February 2020 poll, remains unchanged. Similarly, the overwhelming majority remains opposed to a resumption of contacts with the Trump administration. Despite the majority expectation that Trump will lose the upcoming US presidential elections, only one fifth expects positive policy change if the Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins. Domestically, findings show continued satisfaction with the PA measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic despite significant decline in the level of satisfaction, especially with the prime minister’s performance. Moreover, a majority is opposed to the severing of coordination and cooperation with Israel in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. Demand for the resignation of president Abbas rises in this poll. Parallel to this, satisfaction with the performance of the president has declined. As a result, if elections were held today, Hamas’ Haniyyeh would win a majority of the public vote. This development might have been boosted by the current economic difficulties in the West Bank resulting from the severing of civil and fiscal coordination with Israel and the resulting inability of the PA to pay the public sector in full. Findings also show a drop in the perception of safety and security in the West Bank and an increase in the desire to emigrate. Despite these developments, the popularity of Fatah in the West Bank is not negatively affected; to the contrary, the findings show a little improvement in its popularity. (1) UAE-Israel normalization agreement:
(2) Annexation and the severing of relations with Israel in post UAE-Israel normalization:
(3) The Peace process and the US “Deal of the Century”:
(4) PA performance during the COVID-19 pandemic:
(5) Legislative and presidential election
(6) Domestic conditions:
(7) Reconciliation:
(8) Muslims in China:
(9) Most vital Palestinian goals and the main problems confronting Palestinians today:
By: PCPO
Date: 24/06/2020
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(55.5%) believe that the decision of the Palestinian Authority to end the security and civil coordination with Israel was a right decision
The latest poll on the Palestinian public opinion prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali revealed the following:
The latest poll prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali and conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (www.pcpo.org) during the period from June 14-22, 2020 covered a random sample of (1250) Palestinian respondents representing the various demographic specimens of Palestinians (18 years and above) living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. It revealed that (55.5 %) of the Palestinian public believe that the decision of the Palestinian Authority to end the security and civil coordination with Israel was a right decision. Dr. Nabil Kukali, President and founder of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, said that the suspension of the security and civil coordination came as response to the Israeli position, that is supported by President Tramp to annex vast regions of the West Bank that makes up around (30 %) of the area of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley region, the region north of the Dead Sea and the settlements to its sovereignty, the matter that the Palestinians consider as ultimate undermining of the opportunity to establish their own independent state. Dr. Kukali further added that the poll results unveil that there is a fear of deterioration of the economic and living conditions in the Palestinian Territories as well as the mutual cooperation in restricting the spread of the corona-virus (COVID-19). Dr. Kukali said the details of the key results of this poll are as follows: Cessation of the Coordination as a Right Decision (55.5 %) of the Palestinian public believe that the decision of the Palestinian Authority to end the security and civil coordination with Israel was a right decision; (49.1 %) of them are residents of the West Bank, and (65 %) residents of Gaza Strip, whilst (44.5 %) of the Palestinians, (50.9 %) of them in the West Bank and (35 %) in Gaza Strip, believe that the decision was wrong. The results in detail further reveal that the governorates with the positive attitude towards the decision are in the West Bank in the following order: Al-Bireh & Ramallah (81.8 %), Jerusalem (62.8 %), Jericho (55.6 %), Hebron (52.9 %), Salfit (52.2 %), Nablus (43.3 %), Toubas (37.5 %), Toulkarem (37.3 %), Jenin (34 %), Qalqilia (27.8 %) and Bethlehem with (15.9 %) the least positive attitude. On the other hand, the governorates with the negative attitude towards the decision are in the West Bank in the following order: Bethlehem (84.1 %), followed by Qalqilia (72.2 %), Jenin (66 %), Toulkarem (62.7 %), Toubas (62.5 %), Salfit (47.8 %), Nablus (56.6 %), Hebron (47.1 %), Jericho (44.4 %), Jerusalem (37.2 %) and Ramallah (18.8 %). In Gaza Strip, the governorates with the positive attitude towards the PA decision are in the following order: Rafah (78.1 %), followed by Deir al-Balah (75.9 %), Gaza City (63.9 %), Khan Younis (61.1 %) and North Gaza (54.9 %). Cessation of the Coordination and the Economic Situation Responding to the question:” Do you think that the cessation of the security and civil coordination with Israel will improve the economic and living conditions of the Palestinian people or rather worsen them ?, (18.7 %) said “will improve them”, (52.3 %) “will worsen them”, (15.8 %) “will have no effect” and (13.2 %) said “I don’t know”. Cessation of the Coordination and the Restriction of Corona-virus (COVID-19) With regard to the question:” In view of the coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel on restricting COVID-19, do you think that ending the security and civil coordination between them would negatively affect this COVID-19 coordination, or not ?, (48.7 %) said “will negatively affect”, (21.7 %) said “will remain unchanged” and (29.6 %) have no opinion. Will the Cessation of the Coordination impede the Annexation of Jordan Valley and the Settlements ? In respect of the question:” Some people in the Palestinian Territories believe that ending the security and civil coordination between the PA and Israel will impede the Israeli annexation of vast areas of the West Bank (Jordan Valley and the settlements) by Israel, while others believe that it will boost the annexation of these areas by Israel. Which of these two opinions is closer to yours ?, “(28.1 %) said “it will impede Israel”, (35.1 %) “it will encourage Israel to annex these areas”, (26.5 %) “the decision of the PA will have no effect on the annexation” and (10.3 %) said “I don’t know”. Seriousness of the Palestinian Authority Responding to the question:”Up to which extent do you believe that the PA will adhere to its decision of terminating the security and civil coordination with Israel ?”, (12.5 %) said “to a great extent”, (37 %) “to a fair extent”, (35.3 %) “to a little extent” and (15.2 %) have no opinion. The Need for Civil Coordination With respect of the question addressed to the West Bank respondents:”If you were in need for a coordination or for getting a job, or going to a hospital in Israel, would you go to the bureaus of the Israeli civil administration or to the Palestinian liaison bureaus “, (22 %) said “I would go to the bureaus of the Israeli civil administration”, whilst (56.6 %) said they “would go to the Palestinian liaison bureaus”, and (21.4 %) said “ I don’t know”. Methodology of the Survey Study in the Palestinian Territories Dr. Nabil Kukali, said that all interviews of this survey were conducted inside the respondents' homes. The choices were randomly taken in accordance with a long experienced methodology applied by PCPO from a total of (180) sites, (135) are from the West Bank and (45) from Gaza Strip. Dr. Kukali has further indicated that the margin of error was (±2.77 %) at a significance level of (95.0%). He added that the rate of the female respondents in this survey was (49.6%) against (50.4%) male respondents. The sample allotment with respect to the residential areas was as follows: (63.0 %) in the West Bank, incl. Eastern Jerusalem and (37.0 %) in Gaza Strip. The average age of the respondents was (31.5) years. For following up the most recent polls of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, please revert to our website: www.pcpo.org
By the Same Author
Date: 19/07/2007
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Palestinians Prefer a Coalition Government over New Elections
A majority of Palestinians don't think new elections are the solution to the political crisis between Fatah and the Hamas government. More than half (54%) of those asked in an opinion poll conducted by Fafo say that they would prefer a new national unity coalition government over new elections. The suggestion of new elections received the support of one in five (21%) of those asked. At the same time, confidence that the sitting Hamas government can solve the crisis alone is very low (7%). The poll data provides little grounds to believe elections would solve the present crisis. The same balance of support was found in the poll for Fatah and Hamas as before the last elections in January 2006: 54 % for Fatah today, 46 % in December 2005, while Hamas received 32 % support today, compared with 21 % at the same time last year. In addition, almost a third of respondents indicated that they would not vote in a new election (28%). People's living conditions have worsened significantly over 2006 following the suspension of assistance to the Palestinian Authority. Barely a fifth of respondents reported they were employed. The economic situation in Gaza is particularly difficult and a majority (61%) of respondents from Gaza indicate they do not have the financial means to meet their basic needs over the coming three months. Three quarters (77%) of respondents support new peace talks with Israel, but the demands of the government by key donor countries are only partially supported: slightly more than one quarter believe the government should recognise Israel and renounce violence against Israel. More than half (58%) believe the Hamas government should accept earlier agreements made by the PLO. One third of those asked (35%) believe that Palestinian society is heading for civil war. Fafo conducted the opinion poll in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza between 25 November and 5 December 2006, with 1,960 respondents above 18 years of age. The research is intended to provide information on people's living conditions, as well as their views on domestic political issues, elections, war and peace. Financial support for the opinion poll has been provided by the Foreign Ministry of Norway. Attitudes towards political actors and the political crisis 51% believe that President Abbas is doing a good job. 23% believe that he is doing a very bad job. 52% believe Prime Minister Hanniya is doing a good job, while 27% believe he is doing a very bad job. Hanniya has stronger support in Gaza (59%) than in the West Bank (48 %). People are generally dissatisfied with the government's performance. 80% are dissatisfied with the economic policy, 83% with the security policy, 83% with the domestic policy and 82% with the government's policy towards Israel. 29% believe that the current government is doing a better job than their predecessor, while 23% think that they are equal in terms of performance. Most of the respondents think that Israel (42%) and the international community (24%) are to blame for the crisis between the government and the President. Considerably fewer, 14% and 15% respectively, believe that the government or the President themselves are causing the crisis. Even fewer, 11%, believe that the Hamas leadership in Damascus is the main cause of the political crisis. The population is divided in their opinion upon whether Fatah or Hamas are to blame for the conflict between the Palestinian fractions. 27% hold Fatah responsible, and the same percentage believes Hamas has the main responsibility for the problems. 30 % reply that they do not know and 9% refused to answer the question. While people in the West Bank to a larger extent think Fatah is to blame (29%), the majority of those that answered the question in Gaza hold Hamas responsible (34%). 7% believe there are other Palestinian fractions that has the main responsibility for the conflict. Around 80% think that a new coalition government could improve the security situation, and the economic and political conditions. 90% believe that it would contribute to restore the development aid to the Palestinian areas. Only 9% believe strongly that there will be a civil war within the Palestinian community, while another 24% believe that this may happen. More Fatah- than Hamas-supporters believe there will be a civil war (42% vs. 23%). The Hamas-supporters in the Gaza Strip find a civil war less likely than the Hamas-supporters in the West Bank. Beyond that, there are no major regional differences. As a solution to the internal political crisis, 21% believe that there should be a new election, while 54% (50% in the West Bank and 60% in Gaza) believe a coalition government should be established. 10% think that a referendum should decide whether a new election is to take place, while 7% believe that the best solution to the crisis is to keep the current Hamas government. 38% believe that Hamas is divided in two fractions. 63% think that the Hamas leadership in Damascus has most influence on the government, while 16% believe that Iran most influence. One of the major reasons why Hamas won the January election, was the problem of corruption in the previous Fatah-led government. Only 6% feel that Hamas has succeeded in their fight against corruption, while an additional 23% think that the government has succeeded to some extent. 38% believe that government has been very unsuccessful in their fight against corruption. While 15% think that President is the most responsible for the security situation in Palestine, 22% put the blame on government. 57% believe that Israel holds the main responsibility for the lack of security, while 11% believe that the main responsibility is with the international community. Most people still expect the national security institutions to take responsibility for law and order. 54% think that the police have the main responsibility to maintain law and order in the streets, while 31% believe this is the responsibility of the national guards. Only 11% believe it is the responsibility of the newly established Executive Forces. However, there is general lack of trust in the main security services on both sides of the present internal crisis. People have very low trust in the security services associated with the previous government (Fatah) and the present President. Only 6% have high trust and 26% somewhat high trust in the security services, while 26% have absolutely no trust in them at all. The present (Hamas) government's security forces (Executive Forces) don't fare much better: 10% have high trust and 18% somewhat high trust in, while 41 % have absolutely no trust in them at all. Political parties are the least trusted public institutions of all. Only 6% say they have high trust and 16% somewhat high trust in the political parties. The trust in Parliament (37%), the juridical system (34%) and the Palestinian NGOs (33%) are also modest. UNRWA is the institution in which people have most trust. 29% have a high degree of trust in UNRWA while additional 38% have somewhat high trust in the UN-organization offering health-, education- and social services to the internally displaced. 33% believe that the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons is the most important political issue. Second in importance is the resumption of peace talks with Israel and improvements in the economic conditions (both 19%). 3 % have trust in CNN and 4% in BBC, while 86% and 84% respectively have absolutely no trust in these news channels. Al Jaziraa on the other hand is highly respected, 87 % have trust in the news from this channel. Elections If there were to be arranged a new election for a Palestinian parliament, 71% respond that they would have participated in the election. Among these 54% replied that they would vote for Fatah and 32% for Hamas. 48% believe that a new election would improve the situation in Palestine, while 16% believes the situation would deteriorate. The most likely candidate for the presidency if there was to be a new election is according to 26% of the respondents the current president Abbas, while 21% would vote for the sitting Prime Minister Hanniya. Marwan Barghouti, who is still in jail in Israel, is seen as the best candidate by 14% of the respondents. Living conditions Only 20% of the population worked the week before being interviewed (35% men and 6% women). 38% of the population on the West Bank were working, while the corresponding numbers from Gaza Strip is 29% 72% of the population report a decrease in personal income over last year. Income has decreased for 68% of the population of the West Bank and for 81% in Gaza. Perhaps surprisingly, 53% of the population expect improved living conditions next year. 45% do not expect to be able to cover their primary needs the next three months if the economic situation remains unchanged. 87% of the children and youth from 5 to 18 and 97% of those between 10 and 14 are currently enrolled in school. 44% of the children had been absent from school during the week before being interviewed. War and peace 77% believe that negotiations with Israel should resume (79% of the respondents on the West Bank and 74% in Gaza). The release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons is seen as the most important factor for a new peace process by 37% of the respondents. The end of Israeli aggression in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank are the second most important demands (both 15%). Then 11% ranks reconciliation between the government and the president as the most central factor. While 82% of the respondents believe all military force against Israel should cease immediately, 84% still believe the military force is legitimate under the current circumstances. 21% believe that the release of the soldier Shalit will end the Israeli incursions into Gaza. At the same time 45% believes that the hostage taking has been beneficial for the Palestinians and only 9% support an unconditional release.
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