Thursday, December 27, 2012

Know your enemy: How many extremists...?

From the Results of an Opinion Poll by the "Arab World For Research and Develoment" (Ramallah), 15 Dec 2012:

Introduction:
These are the results and analyses of the latest Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) public opinion poll, focusing on the aftermath of the UN vote on November 29, 2012 and the Gaza confrontations in the last two weeks of November.....
The questionnaire was fielded December 1-2, 2012, only 2 days after the UN vote recognizing Palestine as a non-member state. The initiative was led by Palestinian President M. Abbas. The poll was also fielded a week after the cease-fire agreement went into effect in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian groups led by Hamas. The agreement was brokered by Egypt and Turkey.
For this survey, 1,200 Palestinians were interviewed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  All socioeconomic groups were represented in the poll (for more details on the sample, please refer to www.awrad.org).  The margin of error in this poll is plus or minus 3 percent.  The survey was carried out by AWRAD researchers under the supervision of Dr. Nader Said-Foqahaa, President of AWRAD. 

...The Gaza Confrontation:
...88 percent believe that the results of the confrontation in Gaza prove that armed struggle is the best means of achieving Palestinian independence.
....50 percent believe that the confrontations in Gaza will not lead to real change in the affairs of Palestinians. 46 percent believe otherwise.
...89 percent say that their views of Hamas improved or improved to some extent, while only 8 percent say that their views diminished.
...86 percent say that their views of Haniyeh improved or improved to some extent, while only 9 percent say that their views diminished.
...83 percent say that their views of KhaledMeshaal improved or improved to some extent, while only 10 percent say that their views diminished.
...In addition, 85 percent say that their views of Islamic Jihad improved or improved to some extent, while only 9 percent say that their views diminished.

...Impact on Views of Political Approaches
...For the first timesince 2006, more Palestinians (40 percent) believe that the approach supported by Hamas and other militant groups is preferable to that supported by Fatah and President Abbas (33 percent)....
...Furthermore, the results of the present poll show that respondents are divided on the issue of a two-state solution, with 47 percent supporting and 50 percent opposing. Support for a two-state solution is higher in Gaza (51 percent) than in the West Bank (44 percent)...

...Political Support
Support for Hamas has increased slightly while support for Fatah has declined slightly since July 2012:
...Support for Hamas increased by 7 points from July (15 percent) to the present (22 percent).
...Support for Hamas increased by 7 point in Gaza and 8 points in the West Bank....

Follow this link to download the full report in English.

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