elections were to take place again, squashing both parties hopes of
winning a comfortable majority. The internal fighting between Fatah
and Hamas suggests that Palestinians are tiring of the international
aid and tax blockade, significantly changing voters’ decisions over who
would be their next leader if given the choice.
The poll results, in addition to other recent surveys, indicate that Abbas and his Fatah party may not have the upper hand if elections were held today as Abbas has suggested. In a legislative election, Fatah would get 32 per cent of the vote and Hamas would get 30.5 per cent.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was voted more trustworthy than Abbas by 19 per cent to 14.5 per cent. The results suggest that 40 years of increasing official corruption in Fatah cannot be forgotten in a mere nine months. Even in spite of Palestinians’ deteriorating economic conditions caused by the international boycott of the Hamas government, Haniyeh and his Hamas party are still more popular among Palestinians.
The survey also indicated that 56 per cent said a national unity government was the best way out of the current crisis. Over half said they oppose attacks on Israel and 46.6 per cent said they support a two-state solution.
The poll has an error margin of 3 percentage points.
Sourced from Haaretz
