Gaza war increased Hamas's popularity, poll shows

• Date: 15 June 2021
• Author: KHALED ABU TOAMEH
• Published date: 15 June 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

A majority of the Palestinians think that Hamas is more deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people, while a small percentage thinks Fatah is the one that deserves to do that.

Conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the poll showed that 77 percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas has come out a winner in its last war with Israel.

Moreover, 65 percent think that Hamas has achieved its declared goal behind firing rockets at Israel: to stop the eviction of a number of Arab families from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and to bring an end to Israeli "restrictions" on Muslim access to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount, the poll showed.

The poll, which covered 1200 Palestinians and has a margin error of three percent, was conducted between June 9 and 12.

The results showed that 72 percent of respondents think that Hamas's decision to launch rockets at Israeli cities came in defense of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque. Only nine percent said they believed the attacks came in protest of the cancelation of the Palestinian general elections.

According to the poll, if new Palestinian presidential elections are held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would get 59 percent of the votes, as opposed to 27 percent for Abbas.

If the competition was between jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Haniyeh, Barghouti would receive 51 percent of the votes, while the Hamas leader would get 26 percent.

Hamas would also win in a parliamentary election, the poll found. More than 40 percent said they would cast their ballots for Hamas as...