Arutz Sheva
by Hana Levi Julian and Hagai Huberman
A recent survey shows the majority of residents in the Palestinian Authority oppose participation in proximity talks with Israel, and support a unilateral declaration of independence by 2011.
The poll, conducted recently by the Al Najah University in Shechem, surveyed 1,356 PA Arabs aged 18 and over, including 500 residents of Gaza.
Nearly two thirds of those polled – 60.8 percent – opposed participation in U.S.-brokered proximity talks with Israel, while 71 percent supported PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's announced intention to unilaterally declare the establishment of the PA as an independent country in August 2011.
The vast majority of respondents – 78.6 percent, also opposed any form of negotiations with Israel if the Jewish State does not cease “settlement' activity. Only 14.3 percent supported talks regardless of whether construction continues in “settlements.” About a third of respondents – 34 percent – agreed with indirect talks if Israel ceases building in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem; 48.7 percent supported direct talks between Israel and the PA in the case of a total freeze on Jewish construction in all areas of Israel restored to the state in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Pollsters also found that 21 percent believe that within the next four months, the Obama administration will succeed in pressuring the Israeli government into freezing Jewish construction in areas of Jerusalem restored to the capital in the 1967 war.
Slightly more than half of respondents (55.6 percent) believe that the Hamas terrorist faction ruling Gaza has edged closer to a position of authority, and 56.1 percent support the recent ceasefire with Israel announced by the Hamas-led group of PA terrorist factions in Gaza.
If elections were held today, 40 percent would vote for PA head Abbas, while only 15.8 percent would vote for a Hamas candidate.
Nearly half of PA Arabs percent fear for the lives on a daily basis, 63 percent are pessimistic about the current situation in the PA, and 75.9 percent said they do not feel secure about life or property.
The majority of respondents were also dissatisfied with the resolutions on Jerusalem declared at the recent Arab Summit in Libya; 83 percent said the decisions were “insufficient” as opposed to 9.3 percent, who said the resolutions would meet the needs of the population. Only 11.6 percent said the Arab nations who participated in the summit would actually fulfill the promises they made, as opposed to 79.5 percent, who believed they would not.
