MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

Background

The Palestinian Government has issued a decree deferring the municipality and local council elections which were supposed to be held in the Palestinian territories in November, 2016. The decree was issued after the ruling made by the Palestinian Supreme Court to the effect that elections are to be conducted only in the West Bank.

After the signed agreement between Fateh and Hamas to end the Palestinian split, nothing was carried out of the agreement other than the formation of a Palestinian coalition government; the other items have not been implemented.

The Results

Following are the results of the Palestinian Public Opinion Poll no. 53 conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from 13-15 October 2016. The University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center.

This poll undertakes deferring the municipality and local council elections which were supposed to be held in the Palestinian territories in November, 2016, the boycott campaign of Israeli goods and products, the possibilities of conducting presidential and legislative elections in addition to the political affiliations of Palestinian people.

The sample included 1362 persons whose age group is 18 and above and who have the right to vote. The enclosed questionnaire was distributed on 862 persons from the West Bank and 500 persons from the Gaza Strip. The sample was drawn randomly and the margin of error is about ±3%; still 1.8% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.

The General Results:

  • 35.4% of respondents supported the Palestinian Government’s decision to postpone municipality and local council elections after the ruling of the Palestinian Supreme Court to conduct them only in the West Bank; 57.6% rejected
  • 23.6% of respondents supported the ruling of the Palestinian Supreme Court on October 9th, 2016 to conduct municipality and local council elections only in the West Bank; 70.4% rejected.
  • 26.9% of respondents supported the ruling of the Palestinian Supreme Court on October 8th, 2016 to stop the decision of the Palestinian Council of Ministers to conduct municipality and local council elections which were scheduled to take place in November, 2016; 66.4% rejected.
  • Respondents attributed the Palestinian Supreme Court’s decision to stop the decision made by the Palestinian Council of Ministers to stop elections to the following:
    • 13.4% The elections do not include Jerusalem.
    • 14.2% The courts and judiciary system in the Gaza Strip are not recognized and not legitimat
    • 33% Fear of internal conflicts as a result of the elections
    • 21.3% Elections will deepen the Palestinian split
  • Respondents who rejected the Palestinian Supreme Court’s ruling to stop the Palestinian Council of Ministers’ decision to conduct municipality and local council elections to the following:
    • 47.6% The Court’s ruling abolishes one of the citizens’ rights (elections)
    • 16.7% Elections will lead to an end to the Palestinian split
    • 19.2% Elections will be an introduction to legislative and presidential elections.
  • 55.1% of respondents believed that the current circumstances are suitable for conducting municipality and local council elections.
  • According to the respondents’ point of view the responsible side for postponing the municipality and local council elections is
    • 27.1% The Palestinian Authority
    • 9.7% Fateh
    • 15.2% Hamas
    • 27.6% Both Fateh and Hamas
    • 4.3% Some other Palestinian factions
    • 2.9% Some independent personalities
  • 41% of respondents believed that the appeals that Hamas made on Fateh’s lists of candidates in the Gaza Strip are the reason for postponing municipality and local council elections
  • Had municipality and local council elections been conducted on the assigned date, respondents expected the following lists to be the winners in the West Bank.
    • 48.2% A Fateh affiliated list or lists supported by Fateh
    • 19.6% A Hamas affiliated list or lists supported by Hamas
    • 1.8% A Palestinian Left affiliated list or lists supported by them
    • 5.4% Family affiliated lists
    • 10.6% Independent lists
  • Had municipality and local council elections been conducted on the assigned date, respondents expected the following lists to be the winners in the Gaza Strip:
    • 23.9% A Fateh affiliated list or lists supported by Fateh
    • 52.5% A Hamas affiliated list or lists supported by Hamas
    • 0.8% A Palestinian Left affiliated list or lists supported by them
    • 2.5% Family affiliated lists
    • 7% Independent lists
  • 52.8% of respondents expected municipality and local council elections to be conducted in the near future.
  • 76.2% of respondents supported submitting a proposal for a UN resolution on the Israeli settlements and the terror caused by Israeli settlers.
  • 75.3% of respondents supported providing international protection for the Palestinian people who have been under occupation since 1967.
  • 75% of respondents supported a call from President Mahmoud Abbas on Britain to acknowledge the historical, legal, political, material, and moral responsibilities relating to the consequences of Belfour Declaration including offering an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes and injustice committed against them.
  • 79% of respondents considered Britain responsible for the catastrophes that befell the Palestinian people
  • 55.9% of respondents supported the French Initiative which called for holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East.
  • 19.3% of respondents believed that the French Initiative to foster the possibilities of peace between Palestinians and Israelis will succeed; 63.1% believed that it will fail.
  • 49.1% of respondents supported the Russian call on President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister to meet in Moscow to reactivate the peace process.
  • 18.2% of respondents saw that the Palestinian Authority must commit itself to the Oslo Accord since Israel is not committed to it; 74% saw the opposite.
  • 63.7% of respondents supported the security campaign that the Palestinian Security apparatuses are conducting to curb the security chaos.
  • 41% of respondents said that they heard about and they supported the change of the Tawjihi (Secondary School State Exam) in the Palestinian territories; 31.5% said they have heard about it and they rejected it.
  • 45.7% of respondents supported the rise of a peaceful, unarmed intifada in the Palestinian Territories; 48.7% rejected that
  • 38% of respondents supported the rise of an armed intifada in the Palestinian Territories; 55.7% rejected that
  • 22.5% of respondents saw that if a Palestinian intifada takes place, a peaceful and unarmed intifada will be the best form of resistance that would serve the Palestinian cause, 20.8% said that an armed intifada would serve the Palestinian cause better, 21.7% said that both forms are useful for the Palestinian cause; 28.9% said that both forms are useless.
  • 46.1% of respondents supported the creation of a confederation with Jordan on the basis of two independent states with strong institutional relations.
  • 33.4% of respondents believed that there is a possibility for the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders while 61.5% said that there is no such possibility.
  • 36.3% of respondents supported the creation of a Palestinian state on the entire area of the 1967 borders as a final solution for the Palestinian cause while 59.4% said that there is no such possibility.
  • 22% of respondents supported the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with some land exchange as a final solution for the Palestinian cause while 72.9% rejected.
  • 18% of respondents supported the creation of a binational state for Arabs and Jews on historic Palestine as a final solution for the Palestinian cause while 78.6% rejected.
  • 40.7% of respondents supported dissolving the PA and merging its institutions with the PLO institutions; 49.9% rejected.
  • 90.5% of respondents saw that Fateh and Hamas must speed the implementation of the reconciliation agreement.
  • 43% of respondents said that they are optimistic about the implementation of the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas in the near future while 54% said they are pessimistic.
  • 14% of respondents believed that the responsible party for the lack of implementation of the national reconciliation agreement is Hamas, 8.4% said it is Fatah, and 67.3% said it is some persons in Fatah and Hamas.
  • 74.9% of respondents supported boycotting Israeli goods and products.
  • 41.2% of respondents expected the success and endurance of the Palestinian reconciliation; 54.1% expected its failure.
  • 12.8% of the respondents said that they buy Israeli products in all cases, 37.3% said they buy Palestinian products in all cases, and 46.5% said they buy according to the quality of the item regardless of its origin.
  • As for the reason why some persons are not committed to the boycott campaign of Israeli products, they attributed that to the following:
    • 64.30% The lack of trust in the quality of local products
    • 63.97% The consumer culture of some persons
    • 58.89% The lack of local substitutes of Israeli products
    • 53.60% The high prices of local products
    • 68.85% The continuous availability of the Israeli products
    • 24.40% The Israeli products are their source of income
  • 63.7% of respondents assessed the performance of the National Unity Government as good.
  • 65.2% of respondents assessed the performance of the Palestinian Presidency as good.
  • 41.5% of respondents expected that if elections are conducted in the present time in the Palestinian Territories, they will be fair.
  • 82.9% of respondents said that they will participate in the coming presidential elections. From among those who said they will participate, 34.3% said that they will give their votes to Fateh's candidate; 13.7% said they will give their votes to Hamas' candidate.
  • 82.8% of respondents said that they will participate in the coming legislative elections. From among those who said they will participate, 36.5% said that they will give their votes to Fateh's candidates; 15.1% said they will give their votes to Hamas' candidates.
  • If PLC elections are to be conducted, 44.3% of respondents expected the winning of Fateh movement; 17.5% expected the winning of Hamas.
  • 85.8% of respondents said that they will participate in the coming municipality and local council elections. From among those who said they will participate, 34% said that they will give their votes to Fateh’s candidates, 3% said they will give their votes to Hamas' candidates and 10% said they will give their votes to the representative of their family or clan.
  • 31.4% of respondents said that the current political, security and economic circumstances compel them to desire to emigrate.
  • 47.8% of respondents expressed fear for their lives under the present circumstances.
  • 60.3% of respondents said that they are pessimistic about the general Palestinian situation at this stage.
  • 76.7% of respondents said that they neither feel safe for themselves nor for their families and properties under the current circumstances.
  • As for political affiliation, respondents gave the following results:

    People’s Party1.0%
    Democratic Front%0.6
    Islamic Jihad1.2%
    Fateh%36.7
    Hamas%12.8
    Fida%0.4
    Popular Front%2.5
    Palestinian National Initiative%1.0
    I am an independent nationalist%5.7
    I am an independent Islamist%1.7
    None of the above%35.7
    Others%0.7

To View the Full Result as PDF

 
 
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