* Pessimistic feelings towards success of the national dialogue in Cairo

* Performance of the security services shows improvement

* Fayyad achieves progress

* Fatah enjoys more support and Hanieh’s popularity declines

* Obama and his speech bring about positive climate

The results of the public opinion poll conducted by Jerusalem Media & Communications Center shows that the Palestinian public is pessimistic regarding the success of the current national dialogue in Cairo between Fatah and Hamas Movements. A ratio of 52.1% of the respondents expect the dialogue to fail in achieving reconciliation compared with a ratio of 37% who said the opposite.

A majority of the respondents (26.5%) blames Israel for the failure of the dialogue while a ratio of 23.5% said Hamas is responsible for the failure of the dialogue and a ratio of 15.5% said Fatah is responsible for the deadlock.

The JMCC’s public opinion poll conducted during the period 20-24 June, 2009, showed positive assessment of the performance of PM Salam Fayyad. A ratio of 30% said his performance is good while a ratio of 38.1% described his performance as average while 27.4% of the respondents said his performance is bad.

With regards to the formation of Fayyad’s government in the West Bank, a ratio of 23.3% described it as a negative step that harms the Palestinian interests compared with a ratio of 35.8% who said it was a positive step while a ratio of 37.4% said the step wont make any difference.

Regarding the level of satisfaction with the performance of Fayyad’s government, a ratio of 48.6% said they are satisfied or very satisfied while a ratio of 44.5% said they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the performance of Fayyad’s government. The same trend applies also to the economic performance of Fayyad’s government. A ratio of 48.6% said they are satisfied or very satisfied compared with a ratio of 47.3% of the respondents who said they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the economic performance of Fayyad’s government.

On the performance of President Abbas, a ratio of 48.2% of the respondents said they are satisfied or very satisfied with his performance compared with a ratio of 49.4% who said they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the performance of President Abbas.

With regards to the performance of the security services, it seems that there is some kind of satisfaction as a ratio of 48.6% of the respondents in the West Bank said the performance improved compared with a ratio of 18.9% said the performance of the security services worsened. The same trend could be noticed in assessing the performance of the security services in Gaza but to a lesser extent; a ratio of 44.4% said the performance improved compared with a ratio of 27.1% who said the opposite.

A ratio of 36.8% of the respondents in the West Bank said the performance of the security services is good compared with a ratio of 24.3% who said the performance is bad. In Gaza Strip, a ratio of 31.2% said the performance of the security services is good compared with a ratio of 30.8% who said the performance is bad.

Further proof on improvement of the performance of the security services can be seen in the rise of ratio of respondents who believe that the security services performance in the West Bank from 21.9% in June 2006 to 36.8% in June 2009; the same applies to Gaza Strip as the ratio also jumps from 25.3% in June 2006 to 31.2% in June 2009.

On the current debate in the Palestinian society on the work priority of the security services, a majority in the West Bank (55.8%) said their work is focused on maintaining internal order and security compared with a ratio of 36.3% who said the work of the security services is focused on preventing resistance activities against Israel.

The same applies to Gaza Strip; a ratio of 55.8% said the work of the security services is focused on maintaining internal order and security while a ratio of 36.2% said their work is focused on preventing resistance against Israel.

The poll tackled the issue of Fatah Sixth General Conference and the results showed that there is division inside Fatah Movement on the chances of holding the General Conference. A ratio of 26.6% of the respondents believes that Fatah will succeed in holding the Conference this summer while a ratio of 33.8% said Fatah will not succeed in holding the Conference. a ratio of 28% said Fatah will hold the Conference within an unidentified period in the future.

On the place of Fatah Conference, a majority (52.3%) believes that holding the Conference in the West Bank serves Fatah’s interests while a ratio of 35.1% said the interests of Fatah stipulate holding the Conference abroad.

On the level of Palestinian support to the Palestinian political forces and factions, Fatah’s popularity arose to 34.9% in June 2009 compared with a ratio of 26% in the January 2009 poll.

On the other hand, Hamas’ popularity suffered a setback for the same period as the support ratio declined from a ratio of 27.7% in January 2009 to 18.8% in June 2009.

A ratio of 30.4% said they don’t support any Palestinian faction.

The popularity of the Head of the discharged government in Gaza Ismail Hanieh also suffered a setback from 21.1% in January 2009 to 14.8% in June 2009.

In the meantime, the popularity of President Abbas for the same period moved up from 13.4% in January 2009 to 17.8% in June 2009. it is interesting to note that a ratio of 32.9% said they trust no Palestinian figure or leader.

When asked about the party they will vote for in case elections occur today, a ratio of 38.5% said they will vote for Fatah Movement while a ratio of 18.8% said they will vote for Hamas Movement and 5.6% for the PFLP. A ratio of 26.5% said they will not vote for anyone.

On the impact of the US Administration performance on the Palestinian public, a ratio of 40.8% said the United States dealing with the Middle East problems has improved since Obama took office compared with a ratio of 49.8% who said nothing has changed.

With regards to the speech of Obama to the Muslim societies, a ratio of 37.9% are more optimistic after the speech while a ratio of 48% said they don’t feel any change.

A ratio of 31.8% said the United States is serious on its attempts to push Israel to stop expansion of settlements compared with a ratio of 60% who said the United States is not serious.

A ratio of 35.4% of the respondents said the policy of US President Obama will maximize the chances to reach a just peace between the Palestinians and Israelis compared with a ratio of 49.1% who said Obama’s policy wont have any impact on the peace process.

Finally, the poll questions tackled the new Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. A ratio of 61.1% of the respondents said Netanyahu’s government will have negative impact on the chances to achieve peace with the Palestinians while a ratio of 31.1% said Netanyahu’s government will not have any impact on the peace process. A ratio of 7.6% said the government of Netanyahu will have positive impact on the chances to achieve peace.

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