JMCC Public Opinion Poll No. 18

On Palestinian Attitudes Towards Current Issues

December 1996

Introduction

  1. As for Palestinian public opinion regarding the peace process and the PNA, it is clear that these indicators have gone down to the level of the pre-September incidents. The popularity of Fateh declined from 42% in October to 35.2% in December. The supporters of the Oslo Agreement also declined from 23.5% in October to 19.7% in December. As for those who are very optimistic about the future, the percentage fell from 19% in October to 12.4% in December. Trust in President Arafat has also declined from 44.5% to 41.2%.
  2. Major changes were observed in this poll regarding the public confidence in the media. Confidence in Palestinian TV increased from 26.5% in August to 41.3% in December (it is worth mentioning that the majority of West Bankers 30.8% trust Jordan TV, as compared to 4.1% in the Gaza Strip). As for radio, confidence in Radio Palestine increased from 33.4% to 44.5%. The second is Israel Radio, and the third is Radio Monte Carlo.
  3. As for final status issues, 84.1% of the public opposed any final solution proposing annexing Israeli settlements to Israel in return for giving the Palestinian land near the Egyptian borders. Moreover, the Palestinian opposed the idea of keeping present Jerusalem unified under Israeli sovereignty while having Abu Deis as a Palestinian Capital.
  4. Only 24% of the Palestinians surveyed say that the Palestinian Council fulfills their aspirations adequately. 48.3% said that the Council represents them but with no effect.

    5. This survey continued to show previous differences that were observed between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Those who said they are very optimistic in the West Bank is 10% compared to 17% in the Gaza Strip. This is also true for the strong supporters of the interm agreement. Whereas only 15.6% in the West Bank said that they strongly support the agreement, the percentage in the Gaza Strip is 31.4% in the West Bank. The same applies to support for President Arafat who enjoys more support in the Gaza Strip (51.9%) than in the West Bank (35.7%).

Methodology

A random sample of 1,152 Palestinians, over the age of 18 years, were interviewed face-to-face throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 13 and 14 December 1996. The interviews were conducted on randomly selected homes, and the sub jects inside each home were also selected randomly according to Kish tables. The interviews were conducted in 83 sampling points chosen randomly according to population.

In the West Bank, 757 people were surveyed from the following areas: Bethlehem area, Bethlehem, Beit-Sahour, Beit-Jala, Hussan, Ertass and Nahaleen; Hebron area, Hebron, Al-Fawwar RC, Al-Dahrieh, Beit Ummar, Beni Naiem; Jerusalem, al-Ram, Dahyet al-Bareed, Shufat, Beit Hanina, Old City, Hizma, Anata, Shu'fat RC, Noba, Beit Ello, Wad El-Joz; Jenin, Jenin RC, Tobass, Masilya, Anza, Fakou', Beit Qad; Nablus/Salfit Area: Nablus, Askar RC, Far'a RC, Salfit, Kufr Al-Deik, Deir Sharaf, Beit Eiba, Huwara, Ein Yabous, Deir Al-Hatab, Azzmout; Ramallah area: Ramallah, Jaba', Mukhmas, Beirzeit, Kobar, Deir Abu Misha'al, Shoukba, Beit E'mmar, Liban al-Sharkiya; Tulkarem and Qalqilia area: Tulkarem, Qalqilia, Tulkarem, Azzoun, Kufr al-Thulth, Safareen Beit Lied; Jericho area: Jericho, Jeftlik, Aqabet Jaber RC....

In the Gaza Strip, 395 people were surveyed from: Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Deir al-Balah RC, Nusseirat RC, Rafah, Jabalya, Jabaly a-Nazala, Jabalya RC, Khan Younis, Khan Younis RC, Nusseirat RC, Rafah, Shati RC, Maghazi RC, and 'Abasan, Nur Shames RC, Beni Shila, Erttah, Sheikh Radwan, Sheikh Agaleen, Shaboura, Rimal, Al-Faloujeh.

The major of error is 3% with a confidence level of 95%.

Sample Distribution

Results

Q.1 In general, what is the extent of your optimism towards the Palestinian future? Would you say you are very optimistic, somewhat optimistic, or pessimistic?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Optimistic

12.4%

10.0%

17.0%
Somewhat optimistic

62.2%

62.2%

62.3%
Pessimistic

18.4%

20.2%

14.9%
Very Pessimistic

5.9%

6.2%

5.1%
No opinion

1.1%

1.3%

0.8%

Q.2 After the elapse of sufficient time on the implementation of the Oslo Agreement, to what extent would you say you support or oppose this agreement?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip
Strongly support

19.7%

15.6%

27.6%
Somewhat support

55.2%

55.9%

53.9%
Do not support

19.1%

21.7%

14.2%
No opinion

6.0%

6.9%

4.3%

Q.3 What is your evaluation of the performance of the PNA after one year of its assumption of authorities? Would you say it s good, average, or poor?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Good

37.8%

36.6%

40.0%
Average

44.8%

44.5%

45.3%
Poor

14.2%

14.5%

13.7%
No opinion

3.2%

4.4%

1.0%

Q.4 In general would you say you support or oppose the peace process?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Support the peace process

78.1%

75.8%

82.5%
Oppose the peace process

14.1%

14.7%

13.2%
No opinion

7.7%

9.5%

4.3%

Q.5 Which political or religious party do you trust most?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Fateh

35.2%

31.4%

42.3%
Hamas

10.3%

8.3%

14.2%
PFLP

3.2%

4.0%

1.8%
DFLP

0.4%

0.5%

0.3%
Islamic Jihad

1.3%

1.3%

1.3%
PPP

0.5%

0.7%

0.3%
FIDA

0.9%

1.2%

0.3%
Democratic Coalition

0.1%

0.1%

--
Other Islamic Movements

3.8%

4.5%

2.5%
Secularists supporting peace

0.3%

0.4%

0.3%
Secularists opposing peace

0.1%

--

0.3%
PLO

1.0%

1.5%

--
Do not trust anyone

27.0%

27.2%

26.6%
No opinion

15.9%

18.9%

10.2%

Q.6 Which Palestinian personality you trust most?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Yasser Arafat

41.2%

35.7%

51.9%
Ahmed Yassin

4.8%

3.4%

7.3%
George Habash

1.8%

2.5%

0.5%
Haidar Abdul Shafi

4.2%

3.7%

5.1%
Faisal Husseni

1.6%

2.2%

0.3%
Hanan Ashrawi

2.2%

2.1%

2.3%
Others

12.3%

12.2%

12.6%
Do not trust anyone

19.5%

21.8%

15.2%
No opinion

12.4%

16.4%

4.8%

Q.7 To what extent would you say that the Palestinian (legislative) Council represents the aspirations of the Palestinian people?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Represents the Palestinian people well

24.0%

22.5%

26.8%
Represents the Palestinian people but to no effect

48.3%

48.6%

47.6%
Represents the people in a bad way

14.8%

14.5%

15.2%
No opinion

13.0%

14.4%

10.4%

Q.8 Which radio station do you trust most?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Voice of Palestine

44.5%

46.2%

41.3%
Israel Radio

10.2%

10.3%

10.1%
Jordan Radio

8.0%

11.8%

0.8%
BBC Radio

5.0%

4.6%

5.8%
Monte Carlo Radio

10.2%

8.7%

12.9%
Egypt Radio

2.5%

1.2%

5.1%
Others

9.6%

9.2%

10.6%
Do not trust anyone

2.4%

2.8%

1.8%
No opinion

7.6%

5.7%

11.4%

Q.9 Which television station do you trust most?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Palestine TV

41.3%

28.0%

66.8%
Israel TV

7.4%

7.4%

7.3%
Jordan TV

21.6%

30.8%

4.1%
Egypt TV

4.0%

0.8%

10.1%
Others

13.2%

18.2%

4.8%
Do not trust anyone

4.9%

1.7%

2.8%
No opinion

7.6%

2.2%

3.8%

Q.10 Which Newspaper you trust most?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Al-Quds Newspaper

52.6%

53.9%

50.1%
Al-Ayyam Newspaper

8.6%

9.5%

6.8%
Al-Nahar Newspaper

3.2%

3.2%

3.3%
Al-Hayat Newspaper

7.6%

4.1%

14.4%
Al-Bilad Newspaper

0.7%

0.3%

1.5%
Al-Haq and Al-Hurieh Newspaper

3.6%

4.6%

1.8%
Others

0.5%

0.4%

0.5%
Do not trust anyone

3.2%

3.9%

1.8%
No Opinion

19.8%

20.1%

19.5%

Q.11 In the framework of the final status negotiations, would you support the idea that says that Israel could annex settlement blocs that comprise a Jewish majority in return for land to be given to the Palestinians near the Egyptian borders?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Agree

6.7%

8.1%

4.1%
Disagree

84.1%

80.8%

90.4%
No opinion

9.2%

11.1%

5.6%

Q.12 In the framework of the final status negotiations, do you agree with the idea that says that settlers could remain under Palestinian sovereignty?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

I agree

24.4%

30.5%

12.7%
I disagree

70.0%

61.8%

85.6%
No opinion

5.7%

7.7%

1.8%

Q.13 In the framework of the final status negotiations, do you agree that the solution to the refugee issue woud be to grant them with the right of return only to the Paestinian state only, or would you say that the solution should guarantee their right to return back to their homes that they were forced to leave in 1948?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

I agree that their return be limited to the Palestinian state

19.4%

23.6%

11.1%
The solution should guarantee their right to return back to their homes that they were forced to leave in 1948

73.2%

68.3%

85.6%
No opinion

7.4%

8.1%

6.3%

Q.14 In the framework of the final status negotiations, do you support the idea that says that Jerusalem remains unified and a capital of Israel, and to have Jerusalem (Abu Deis), which lies outside the boundaries of present Jerusalem, as the Palestinian Capital, and provided that the Aqasa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock be outside Israel's sovereignty and administered by the Palestinian?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Agree

9.0%

9.5%

8.1%
Disagree

85.0%

83.4%

88.1%
No opinion

6.0%

7.1%

3.8%

Q.15 Looking at the political and economic changes after the establishment of the PA, would you say that your economic condition and living standard became better, worse, or remained the same?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Better than before

9.0%

8.7%

9.6%
Worse than before

47.9%

42.1%

59.0%
The same

40.3%

46.2%

28.9%
No opinion

2.8%

2.9%

2.5%

Q.16 Whom in your opinion is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

PNA

18.1%

17.2%

20.0%
PLO

25.3%

27.9%

20.3%
PLO & PNA

38.2%

36.1%

42.3%
I do not know

9.9%

9.0%

11.6%
No opinion

8.5%

9.9%

5.9%

Q.17 Whom, in your opinion, should be the reference (who should be responsible for the other), the PLO or the PNA?

Total

West Bank

Gaza Strip

The PLO is responsible for the PNA

37.7%

38.4%

36.2%
The PNA is responsible for the PLO

19.2%

18.0%

21.5%
There is no defference between both

32.0%

31.0%

33.9%
No opinion

11.1%

12.5%

8.4%

[Back to Polls 1996]