The survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which
questioned 1,318 respondents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news
- web
sites), also showed that 85 percent of Palestinians support a "mutual
cessation of violence by both sides."
The poll found considerable anti-American feeling among Palestinians. Just
over 95 percent of respondents said the United States was "not sincere" when
it says it seeks to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
In a question asking whether they supported or opposed the October 4
bombing in the northern city of Haifa, 75 percent said they either supported
the attack or strongly supported it.
Seventeen percent of respondents said they opposed the bombing and 4.4
percent said they strongly opposed the attack.
Ayoub Mustafa, one of the pollsters, told Reuters the number may have been
artificially high because respondents were not told in the question that all
the 21 dead were civilians.
He said 55 percent of respondents said they supported "armed attacks" in
Israel and this number might be more reflective of Palestinian support for the
Haifa attack as it was the first time they had surveyed support for specific
bombings.
The Haifa bombing was carried out by a woman who said she was avenging
Israel's killing of her brother, an Islamic Jihad militant who the army said
was planning a car-bomb attack.
Just over 89 percent of Palestinians surveyed backed attacks against Jewish
settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, land occupied by Israel which
Palestinians want for a state. A similar number supported attacks against
Israeli soldiers.
On the political front, President Yasser Arafat (news
- web
sites)'s popularity rose to its highest level in five years with 50
percent of Palestinians saying they would vote for him again if there were
elections, up from 35 percent last year, the poll showed. About 80 percent of
respondents attributed Arafat's rise in popularity to Israel's plans to expel
him from the Palestinian territories.
Almost 97 percent said the United States, Israel's main ally, was biased in
favor of the Jewish state.
The United States drew up a peace "road map" with the United Nations (news
- web
sites), the European Union (news
- web
sites) and Russia this year which set out reciprocal steps for ending
violence and establishing a Palestinian state in 2005. Progress on the road
map has stalled.
