February Poll: 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist

IMRA ^ | 2-16-07

[SJackson]

NEC 12-15 February Poll: 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist

NEC's monthly bulletin on Palestinian perceptions
towards politics and economics
Bulletin # II-2 - Main Findings
February 2007
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Please contact:
Jamil Rabah
Near East Consulting
HSBC Building, 3rd floor
RAMALLAH
Tel: 02-2961436
Fax: 02-2963114
info@neareastconsulting.com
www.neareastconsulting.com

In the period 12-15 February, 2007, Near East Consulting (NEC) conducted a
phone survey of over 1200 randomly selected Palestinians in the West Bank,
the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem of which 806 were successfully completed. It
is worth noting that the margin of error is +/- 3.4% with a 95% confidence
level.

.. 51% of Palestinians feel less secure since the January 2006 elections,
as compared to 48% last month, and 44% in December 2006.

.. The majority of Palestinians (85%) of the Palestinians continue to be
either extremely concerned (55%) or somewhat concerned (30%) about the
current situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This constitutes a
decrease of 6% since NEC's January 2007 survey.

.. 19% are concerned because of the economic hardship that their household
is facing (+1% since January), 31% are concerned because of the general
absence of security for their families (+5% since January), while 29% remain
concerned because of the internal power struggle (-13% since January).

.. Despite the recent Mecca agreement, 75% continue to feel insecure with
respect to themselves, their family, and their property (+1% since NEC's
January 2007 survey).

.. 82% of the Palestinians believe that the Executive Force should be
integrated within the other security forces (+3% since January).

.. While in NEC's January 2007 survey, 43% of Palestinians believed that a
civil war was likely, since the Mecca agreement 77% think that this
likelihood has decreased, 8% believe that the likelihood of a civil war
since the Mecca agreement has increased, and 15% feel that it remained the
same.

B. The Mecca agreement and the future developments:

.. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians (94%) support the Mecca
agreement.

.. 79% believe that the Mecca agreement will hold.

.. Equally, 79% believe that the envisaged Unity government in the Mecca
agreement will succeed.

.. 63% believe that the embargo against the PA will be lifted as a result of
the Mecca agreement.

.. 20% believe that Fateh most benefited from the Mecca agreement, 19% feel
that Hamas most benefited from the Mecca agreement, while 38% believe that
both benefited equally. Although originally not an option to answer in the
survey, 23% of the respondents insisted that the Palestinian people most
benefited from the Mecca agreement.

.. Despite the optimism surrounding the potential of the Mecca agreement, an
exact equal percentage of Palestinians as last month (76%) believe that the
crisis between Fateh and Hamas will end. In other words, the Mecca agreement
did not further influence Palestinian perceptions on this issue.

C. Factions and leaders:

.. Between trust in Abu Mazen and trust in Ismael Hanieh, 51% most trust the
former, while 49% most trust the latter. However, when - more generally -
Palestinians are queried about their trust in Palestinian personalities, 22%
most trust Ismael Hannieh, while 19% most trust Abu Mazen. Some of the other
personalities who receive trust from a proportion of the Palestinian people
include: Marwan Barghouti (16%), Khaled Masha'al (9%), Mustafa Barghouti
(8%), and Mohammad Dahlan (6%). Although his name was not included in the
list of Palestinian personalities, 9% of the respondents still insisted that
they most trust the late President Yasser Arafat.

.. Very similar to NEC's January 2007 results, 43% believe that the people
in their neighbourhood mainly trust Fateh, 33% believe that they mainly
trust Hamas, while 21% believe that the people in their neighbourhood do not
trust any faction.

.. Personally, 34% of the respondents place their trust in Fateh (a drop of
6% in comparison with NEC's January results), 28% most trust Hamas (compared
to 26% in January), while 33% do not trust any faction (an increase of 6%
since last month). In other words, last month's high level of trust in Fateh
has receded as an increasing percentage of respondents again opt not to
trust any of the existing factions.

D. The Palestinian-Israeli context:

.. 70% support a peace settlement with Israel, compared to 72% in January
2007 and 77% in December 2006.

.. 51% believe that Hamas should change its position towards the elimination
of Israel (a drop of 5% since January 2007, and a 10% drop since December
2006).

.. 63% of Palestinians believe that Hamas should use all its efforts to
reach a peace agreement with Israel.

.. 85% of Palestinians believe that there is a Palestinian peace partner.
This indicates an increase of 8% since December 2006, and is the most
positive answer since NEC began asking this question in its May 2006 survey.

.. Meanwhile, 26% believe that Palestinians have a peace partner in Israel.
This indicates a downward trend as in December 2006 still 30% believed that
there was a peace partner in Israel, while this was this the case for 36% of
Palestinians in November 2006. The current results consist of the least
pronounced belief that there is a peace partner for Palestinians in Israel
since August 2006 (at the height of Israel's war against Hezbollah).

.. 62% of Palestinians support the planned meeting on 19 February between
Abu Mazen, Ehud Olmert, and Condaleeza Rice.
.. While principally 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the
right to exist, 70% support a one-state solution in historic Palestine where
Muslims, Christians and Jews live together with equal rights and
responsibilities.

E. Poverty conditions

.. The percentage odd Palestinians who live under the poverty line is lower
than previous months and it stands now at 64% (32% are hardship cases and
32% are below the poverty line).

.. Supporters of Fateh seem to be less privileged than other respondents.
While the national rate for those below the poverty line is 64%, the
percentage is 67% for Fateh supporters and 62% for Hamas supporters. This
tendency has been rather consistent every month since March 2006.

.. Poverty level is higher in the Gaza Strip (72%) than in the West Bank
(59%).

[SJackson]

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..................

[Hildy]

I'm surprised it's only 75%.

[kittymyrib]

Sec. Rice must not have read this poll...

[Buck W.]

They probably surveyed 75% of the population and got a 100% "No right" response rate.

[Peach]

Regardless of how one might feel about Rudy Giuliani, he has long been considered one of Israel's best friends.

[word_warrior_bob]

The other 25% face beheading

[Gay State Conservative]

75% of *all* followers on the Religion of Pieces believe that Israel,and Jews,don't have a right to exist.

[television is just wrong]

and they would be in line with Hillary's thinking.

[ImAmerican]

The irony of this is the "palestinians" don't exist

[Sgt_Schultze]

A similar percentage of the democrat party agrees as does it's moonbat leader Jimmah Carter.

[YellowRoseofTx]

The irony of this is the "palestinians" don't exist

That's what I was just thinking

[Alouette]

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Puppage]

Make that 76%

[mountainlyons]

So who are the Palestinians?

[Publius6961]

.. While principally 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist, 70% support a one-state solution in historic Palestine where Muslims, Christians and Jews live together with equal rights and responsibilities.

An honest consistency.
Here's the turd in the punchbowl...

One-state solution = we haven't been able to eradicate you militarily, so let's try it "democratically"....

Just for grins, a reminder that the UN did not recommend or vote on a one-state "solution" 60 years ago. So why does this keep coming up as a rational idea? Or as a useful question?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Me too. Taking their "education" into consideration, I'm surprised its not 90 + percent.

[SJackson]

Bush's inevitable showdown

He has, which is why some of the anti morons on Rudy threads refer to him as a Likudnik, and imply that he's controlled behind the scenes by mysterious warlike people from a little country in the middle east. IMO they're not suggesting it's Saudi Arabia.

Of course Gingrich, Hunter and McCain are pro Israel and anti terror as well.

[Publius6961]

The irony of this is the "palestinians" don't exist

Worth remembering. Most people living today in the US and "discussing" this topic haven't a clue.

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism." --- PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein on March 31, 1977

[Peach]

I knew that about Gingrich but not Hunter. McCain is so difficult to read that I never know where he stands.