Survey; Increasing support for Hamas in the West Bank compared to Mahmoud Abbas

According to the report of the international group of Fars news agency, the results of a survey conducted by a university professor in Ramallah show the high support of the Palestinians for the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, and widespread public opposition to “Mahmoud Abbas”, the head of the self-governing organization. The Palestinian has a story.

This survey was conducted by “Khalil Shakaki”, a professor of political science and the head of the “Palestinian Center for Political Research and Research” and its results were published in the same center on Wednesday. It has arrived.

The Associated Press news agency, which prepared a report on the results of this research, wrote that this research shows an increase in support for Hamas even in the devastated Gaza, and in addition, it shows that nearly 90 percent of Palestinians They demand the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas.

Associated Press writes that this survey shows the many problems that the US President Joe Biden’s government is facing to determine the future of Gaza after the end of the war. The declared goal of Israel to destroy the military capabilities and governance of Hamas is exposed to serious doubts. Finally, it should be entrusted to the Palestinian Authority, which is supported by the West. American officials have said that the organization should be “renovated”, without providing further explanations to specify whether they want extensive changes in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is Currently, he is the head of the most right-wing and extreme cabinet in the occupied Palestine. He has rejected giving any role to the self-governing organizations in the future of Gaza and insists that the security control of the Gaza Strip should be in the hands of Tel Aviv.

Khalil Shekaki said that in the circumstances, the results of the polls indicate a further decrease in the legitimacy of the self-governing organizations, and there is no real way to restart negotiations for The two-state solution is not seen. It seems that Israel’s default for the future of Gaza is to reoccupy this area.

Shakaki told the Associated Press before publishing the results of his survey: “Israel is stuck in Gaza.” . “Maybe the next Israeli government will come to the conclusion that Netanyahu did not do the right thing in creating these conditions and decide to withdraw from Gaza unilaterally, but the default for the future for both Israel and Gaza is the complete re-occupation of Gaza by Israel.”

The survey was conducted from November 22 to December 2 among 1,231 people in the West Bank and Gaza with a margin of error of 4 percent. In Gaza, 481 in-person interviews were conducted with participants during the ceasefire that ended on December 1. As a result, the displacement of residents during the Hamas war in Israel has increased by one percent. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled northern Gaza because of the war, and pollsters only asked participants in central and southern Gaza. Skeptics said Gazans tend to be more critical. They are more loyal to Hamas than the residents of the West Bank. Despite this and despite the destruction in Gaza, 57 percent of respondents in Gaza said that Hamas was right in carrying out the October 7 attack against Israel. This figure was 82 percent for the residents of the West Bank.

The survey also showed that most of the participants believed in the Hamas narrative that this movement is for the defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque against the Israeli enemy and for the release of Palestinian prisoners. They have accepted and believe in it. Only 10% said that in their opinion Hamas committed a “war crime”. The two-decade siege of Gaza and the prison and torture of thousands of Palestinians started the operation known as “Al-Aqsa Storm”.

This operation was one of the deadliest attacks against this regime. Hamas fighters penetrated into the occupied territories at several points of the border fences, attacked villages and besides killing a large number of Israelis, captured a number of them.

Zionist regime In response to this operation, it launched heavy attacks against Gaza and placed this area under a complete siege. Despite this, as analysts say, the al-Aqsa storm operation has imposed a major security-political defeat on Israel.

The Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the number of martyrs since the beginning of the Israeli attacks in Gaza has reached 18,787 people. 50 thousand and 897 people were injured as a result of these attacks.

In this poll, 88% of the participants demanded the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas. This figure has increased by 10% compared to three months ago, that is, some time before the Al-Aqsa storm operation. In the West Bank, 92 percent of Palestinians have demanded the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas.

At the same time, in the West Bank, 44 percent said they support Hamas. This figure is important because in September, support for the Palestinian resistance movement in the West Bank was only 12%. In Gaza, Hamas enjoyed 42 percent support, down from 38 percent three months ago.

Shakaki said support for the self-governing administration had fallen even further, to nearly 60 percent. A percentage now say that this organization should be disbanded. In the West Bank, the continued security cooperation of the self-governing organization with the Israeli army against Hamas is an extremely unpopular policy.

According to the Associated Press, this survey also shows the widespread disappointment of the Palestinians with the international community, especially America, European countries and even the United Nations have a story. Shakaki said: “The level of anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism among Palestinians is very high because of the positions they have taken on international humanitarian law and the events in Gaza.”

America was one of the few countries that The UN General Assembly voted against the resolution to establish an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This country had previously vetoed another resolution in the Security Council that had a similar goal.

The United States has been the main supporter of this regime since the beginning of Israel’s military attacks in Gaza and by sending weapons and Political support has helped fuel the war.

In the weeks leading up to the war, the White House said the White House was only offering “interruptions” to repeated calls to help broker a ceasefire in Gaza. supports a “war” in Gaza and is not in favor of a ceasefire that could benefit Hamas.

Meanwhile, human rights activists and some politicians of the Democratic Party have repeatedly asked Biden to Israel to press for the end of the operation that has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

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