Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research : 50% expect success that Palestine will become a state at the UN this month!

A Palestinian Poll in the last few days is revelatory:

83% support going to the UNSC to obtain recognition of Palestine as a state. Moreover, 74% believe that there is no point in returning to negotiations with Israel without acceptable terms of reference or without freezing settlement construction and that therefore president Abbas is right in seeking UN involvement.

The next contains some surprises

77% expect the US to use its veto power at the UNSC to prevent admission of Palestine to the UN but 58% believe that most European countries will recognize the new state of Palestine.
50% expect Palestine to become a UN member state this September and 43% do not expect that.
After the UN recognition of Palestine as a state, 75% (76% in the West Bank and 71% in the Gaza Strip) want the PA to exercise sovereignty throughout the entire West Bank even if such a measure leads to a confrontation between the PA and the Israeli army and settlers.
Similarly,73% (71% in the West Bank and 77% in the Gaza Strip) want the PA to assert Palestinian sovereignty over the Allenby crossing with Jordan even if such a step leads to the closure of the crossing

Only 35% support a return to an armed intifada and 64% oppose it.

By contrast, 61% support resort to popular, unarmed and non-violent resistance and 54% say they will participate in peaceful demonstrations that would seek to breach checkpoints and block roads used by Israeli army and settlers after the UN recognition of the state of Palestine

And now Palestinians polled on their own govt’s

Positive evaluation of the performance of the governments of Ismail Haniyeh (Gaza-HAMAS) stands at 34% and Salam Fayyad’s (West Bank PLA) at 53%. Three months ago, these percentages stood at 39% and 43% respectively.

Findings show that the percentage of Gazans who say they seek immigration to other countries stands at 49%; in the West Bank, the percentage stands at 28%. Three months ago, these figures stood at 40% and 26% respectively.

Percentage of satisfaction with the performance of President Abbas stands at 52% while 44% say they are dissatisfied with his performance. Satisfaction with the performance of the president stands at 39% in the Gaza Strip and 59% in the West Bank.

If new legislative elections are held today with the participation of all factions, 67% say they would participate in such elections. Of those who would participate, 29% say they would vote for Hamas and 45% say they would vote for Fateh

I suppose that is the good news (?)

And now…..

The largest percentage (59%) believes that the first most vital Palestinian goal should be to end Israeli occupation in the areas occupied in 1967 and build a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Too bad that was not your wish 44 years ago. There is a new reality now. The next sentence is good news, but represents a percentage still so high that if this group is prepared to act, no peace is possible. However, a govt PREPARED to act as a sovereign can overcome this

By contrast, 24% believe the first most vital goal should be to obtain the right of return of refugees to their 1948 towns and villages, 11% believe that it should be to build a pious or moral individual and a religious society, one that applies all Islamic teachings, and 7% believe that the first and most vital goal should be to establish a democratic political system that respects freedoms and rights of Palestinians.

Three months ago, only 48% viewed statehood within the 1967 borders as the most vital goal.

It is likely that the drive to gain UN membership and recognition has pushed this goal to the top priority for a greater number of Palestinians. Five main problems confront Palestinians today: the most serious in the eyes of 25% of the public problem is the spread of poverty and unemployment while an identical percentage believes that it is the absence of national unity due to the West Bank-Gaza Strip, and 24% believe that it is the continuation of occupation and settlement activities while 13% believe it to be the corruption in some public institutions, and 7% believe it to be the siege and the closure of the Gaza border crossings.

To me it looks as if a small majority of the Palestinian people in the west bank are prepared to take correct kinds of measures to achieve a two state peace, although their expectation are in line with what would have been acceptable 2 generations ago. However, so long as HAMAS exists no progress is possible. This means that the PLA must be prepared to do to HAMAS what Ben Gurion did to Irgun and THEN negotiations can be real.

IMHO, Israel and the USA should make this requirement a sine qua non for any positive motion, BUT they should make clear they are prepared to aid the PLA in any way they wish if they are ready to end the existence of the Muslim Brotherhood in ‘Palestine’.