Posted on 06/11/2002 8:11:28 AM PDT by Nonstatist
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A majority of Palestinians believe the aim of their 20-month-old uprising should be to eliminate Israel and not just end Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ( news - web sites), an opinion poll released Tuesday showed.
The survey also showed almost half of all respondents believed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ( news - web sites) would win elections he has proposed holding early next year and that more than half wanted reforms of his Palestinian Authority ( news - web sites).
The poll by the Palestinian Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (JMCC) highlighted a radicalization of views as 20 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence worsens.
The JMCC interviewed 1,179 people in the West Bank and Gaza in late May and early June. The poll had a three percent margin of error.
Fifty-one percent of people surveyed said the end result of the uprising should be "liberating all of historic Palestine," referring to British-mandate Palestine, part of which was recognized as Israel in 1948.
Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war and these territories have since been the focus of internationally sponsored peace negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Forty-three percent of respondents said the aim of the uprising was to end Israeli occupation and establish a state only in the West Bank and Gaza.
This compared with a poll taken in December in which 48 percent said the uprising's goal was to end the occupation compared with 44 percent who said the aim should be to eliminate Israel, the JMCC said.
BROAD SUPPORT FOR UPRISING
The uprising continued to have broad support. Seventy-nine percent of people surveyed said they back the revolt in some way and 68 percent said they approved of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, down slightly from 74 percent in December.
Fewer than half the respondents supported Arafat, despite Israeli attempts to isolate him by besieging his headquarters and restricting his movement.
Some 41 percent of people surveyed gave Arafat favorable marks, compared with 29 percent who said he was a bad leader.
Most of the people polled said Israeli raids had reduced their support for the Palestinian Authority and its security forces, and also dented their support for holding peace talks with Israel.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said the Israeli raids had boosted their approval of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which opposes Israel's existence, and 66 percent said the army operations increased their backing for suicide bombings.
A large majority -- 58 percent -- said they supported domestic reform within the Palestinian Authority, and 42 percent said the best way to accomplish reform was through free democratic elections.
Arafat was expected to win elections by 48 percent of those surveyed.
Overall, 25 percent of Palestinians said they trusted Arafat more than any other politician, followed by 24 percent who said they trust no one and nine percent who put their faith in Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Well, there's something promising..
..or so we are told!
Barbarians.
How reliable would a poll like this be? About like a Newsweek poll? Sounds agenda driven to me and with diseenters loath to express their opinions, for fear of retaliation, how reliable can it be?
After Israel wins the ENTIRE West Bank, they will reunify Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple right on the Temple Mount.
"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise, Sgt. Carter!"
Annex the land that they WON in '67 remove the squatters.
If they launch attacks from their new homes then finish the countries harboring the terrorists.
The former treatment is the more palatable, but I keep thinking of Manhattan in John Carpenter's movie Escape From New York, and wonder if it would be a cure or only the postponement of inevitable genocide.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Support for the intifada has been guaged by several polls, since it started 2 yrs ago, and the results have been pretty consistent.
You need only read about what's taught in the schools, whats broadcast every day, whats screamed from every pulpit.
Hate, hate, hate. They are collectively deranged and propagandized population, hardly capable of rational behavior. It will take a lot more than the Israelis will be permitted to deal out, to make them come to their senses. Sickos.
The poor oppressed arabs-- why do they hate us so much? Why do aligators eat peoples dogs in south Florida-- it's in thier nature. It is the nature of Islam to espouse hatred and conflict with other cultures. 3 million Christians murdered in Sudan during the 1990s in Sudan by muslims in the north. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's not a f*ckin poodle Liberals!
An idependent "Palestinian" state would have a lot in common with the de facto independent Chechen bandit state of the mid-1990s to 2000, and with the "conditionally independent" Shiptar/KLA entity in Kosovo that exists today.
Both bandit Chechnya and KLA Kosovo have preyed on their neighbors with terrorist attacks and outright invasions, such as the ongoing invasion of FYR Macedonia. They also have been or are centers for large-scale organized crime, and export terrorists and criminal thugs far and wide.
BOTH must be utterly crushed, and no independent, armed "Palestinian" state must be allowed to come into being. Stop islamic expansion wherever you find it!!!!
If this is how the Palestinian people feel, then it's time to let Israel loose.
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