Posted on 08/26/2002 10:50:23 AM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 1:34 p.m. ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A scant majority of Palestinians oppose efforts among their various factions to halt suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and disapprove of attempts at a gradual truce, a survey released on Monday showed.
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted the poll last week with 1,320 participants from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The poll, which had a margin of error of three percentage points, also showed an overwhelming majority of Palestinians seek far-reaching reforms of the Palestinian Authority and would support the election or appointment of a prime minister.
Support for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was stable at 34 percent, compared with 35 percent in May and 46 percent before the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in Sept. 2000 after peace talks froze.
Following on his heels was Marwan Barghouthi, a popular leader of the uprising and head of Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank who is standing trial in Israel on charges of orchestrating violence.
Barghouthi's popularity rose to 23 percent in August from 19 percent in May and 11 percent in December 2001.
At the same time, public support for Islamic militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- the main groups behind suicide bombings against Israelis -- has risen to 27 percent from 17 percent before the uprising, the poll showed.
The main Fatah faction saw its popularity slip to 26 percent from 37 percent in the same period.
Fifty-three percent of participants said they opposed efforts to persuade Palestinian factions to halt suicide attacks in their uprising, while 43 percent approved of the move.
On the efforts to arrange a gradual truce, which has led to an Israeli pullout from Bethlehem but stalled on measures to ease closures in the Gaza Strip, 48 percent of participants said they supported the attempts while 50 percent opposed them.
A large majority of 84 percent said they supported fundamental reforms of the Palestinian Authority, while 69 percent said they backed the appointment or election of a Palestinian prime minister.
At the same time, 48 percent said they opposed changing the political structure in the Palestinian Authority whereby a prime minister would be the most powerful leader, sidelining the presidency held by Arafat to a ceremonial role. Forty-four percent said they supported such a change.
Arafat has pledged new leadership elections by early 2003 and an overhaul of the Palestinian security services and financial institutions under intense pressure from the United States, Israel and Palestinian critics.
But he has resisted efforts by the United States and Israel to relegate him to a ceremonial position as part of efforts to root out corruption and reduce violence in a 23-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
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