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Majority of Palestinians Oppose Attacks on Israel: Poll
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Majority
of Palestinians Oppose Attacks on Israel: Poll
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JERUSALEM—A majority of Palestinians want their police to crack down
on militants attacking Israel — a shift that coincides with unprecedented
criticism from a top Palestinian leader of two years of violence against Israel,
according to a poll released yesterday.
The poll, by the Palestinian Center
for Policy and Survey Research, questioned 1,319 people in personal interviews
from Nov. 14 to 22 and quoted a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage
points.
The poll shows Palestinians still strongly favor attacks against Israeli settlers
and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza — lands claimed by the Palestinians
for their own state — but that 56 per cent favor steps by the Palestinian
Authority to stop attacks in Israel.
And 76 per cent said they backed efforts to reach a mutual ceasefire, a sharp
rise from the 48 per cent who supported an end to the violence just three months
ago.
Earlier this week, a top-level Palestinian official Mahmoud Abbas said the uprising
has been a disaster and has led to "complete destruction of everything we built.''
Abbas also implied criticism of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying there
was no reason why the Palestinian Authority should not stop the militants from
attacking Israel.
While Arafat's popularity remained unchanged at 35 per cent, the poll showed that
73 per cent favored selecting a Palestinian prime minister who could take over
some of Arafat's powers.
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