Hamas Popularity Surges Over Gaza, Poll Finds

[bemildred]

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK—

Militant group Hamas would sweep Palestinian elections if they were held today after its support soared during seven weeks of war with Israel in Gaza, an opinion poll published Tuesday found.

The independent, nonprofit Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said its poll showed Islamists clearly leading presidential and parliamentary polls. It marked the first time since Palestinians last voted eight years ago, when Hamas won power in Gaza.

Most Palestinians surveyed said they preferred Hamas' strategy of armed struggle against Israel rather than peace negotiations, which are favored by Fatah, once the dominant Palestinian political movement and one backed by the West.

The views, collected among over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, show an unprecedented popular shift toward Hamas as tensions with Fatah boil.

http://www.voanews.com/content/hamas-popularity-surges-over-gaza-poll-finds/2435798.html

[yeoman6987]

1. Really?

I find that hard to believe.

[bemildred]

2. Perhaps this is a teachable moment for you then. nt

[yeoman6987]

3. I don't know

I thought Palestinians wanted the deaths to stop. Instead they want a terrorist government. Well whatever makes them happy I guess....

[bemildred]

4. They want freedom. nt

[sabbat hunter]

8. They won't get freedom with

Hamas. Only repression from Hamas, killing of freedom of speech, etc.

[bemildred]

9. They don't seem to agree with you.

But what would they know, right?

[hack89]

14. Desperate people make poor choices all the time

history is full of groups that faithfully followed popular leaders to absolute ruin.

It doesn't take too much to see how following Hamas has the potential to result in nothing but death and misery for the people of Gaza. Certainly if Hamas doesn't moderate their views on violence.

[sabbat hunter]

15. I can only go by

what hamas has done in the past and that they have things like modesty squads, repression, etc now.


I guess that Fatah is seen as no better than them.

[Larkspur]

5. Israel has successfully neutered Fatah

Israel is still stealing Palestinian lands and giving them to racist Jewish settlers while Fatah can do nothing. There are non-violent protests, but they do not attract the media attention in the US and the world, like Hamas' rockets do.

Hamas' strategy is also ineffective except that it causes Israel to overreact and thus shows Israel's ugly side to the world.

The Likkud led government has no desire to seek a 2 state solution. They want a one state solution and would like to push the Palestinians into neighboring countries so Israel's Jewish population can control all of the lands within Israel/Palestine.

That is why Hamas is more popular than Fatah right now among Palestinians.

[bemildred]

6. I am starting to think the cease-fire won't last long. nt

[Jefferson23]

7. Yep, it sure has...not hard to figure out why. n/t

[bemildred]

10. No peace after Gaza war

---

Countdown to next round

The comment harked back to Israel's decision in April to cut off peace talks with Abbas after he clinched a unity deal with Hamas, a bitter rival that had seized the Gaza Strip from his Fatah forces in 2007.

Those negotiations, on creating a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, were already going nowhere, with Palestinians pointing to expanding Israeli settlement on land they claim as their own and balking at Israel's demand to recognise it as the Jewish homeland.

In an editorial laden with scepticism, Israel's liberal Haaretz newspaper questioned whether "as in the past" Netanyahu's remarks on casting a regional peace net, "are only empty slogans".

Some of his cabinet ministers are also pressing Netanyahu to get moving on a wider track.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/No-peace-after-Gaza-war-20140902

[azurnoir]

11. same thing happened with Hezbollah after Israel's 2006 campaign

not really surprising at all when death is being rained down on a population they tend to support those that fight back, now once again we see 'disunity' among Palestinian factions being sown by Western media but strangley not so much by Palestinian media, sort of makes you wonder

[bemildred]

12. It's moronic. External threats never divide, they unify.

Would they try to divide Israel by attacking it?

[azurnoir]

13. more from the poll

Despite the current opposition to disarming Gaza groups, a majority of 54% support and 40% oppose Abbas’ position that argues that the reconciliation government must be committed to existing agreements reached between the PLO and Israel and rejects Hamas position that opposes Abbas’ argument. In our previous poll in June, support for Abbas’ position stood at 59%.

A majority of 51% wants to place the reconciliation government in charge of the Rafah crossing, but 38% prefer to keep it under Hamas’ control. In the Gaza Strip, 64% want to place the Rafah crossing under the control of the reconciliation government and only 25% want it under Hamas’ control. The same, with minor variation, applies to control over the crossings with Israel.

48% want the reconciliation government to control the border with Egypt and 39% want it under Hamas’ control. The same, with minor variation, applies to the border with Israel; with 45% in favor of keeping the border under the control of the reconciliation government and 41% say they should stay under Hamas’ control. In the Gaza Strip, 56% say borders with Egypt should come under the control of the reconciliation government and 49% say the border with Israel too should come under the control of the reconciliation government.

44% believe the responsibility for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip should be placed in the hands of the reconciliation government while 39% prefer to place it in Hamas’ hands.

http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/489

[oberliner]

16. Maybe now Hamas will allow elections?

They haven't seemed keen on the idea since the 2007 troubles.