By P. David Hornik
A poll published this week by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that, at present, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh would defeat Fatah-affiliated, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, 47%-45%, if elections were held in the West Bank and Gaza.
Three months ago, before Operation Cast Lead, Abbas would have beaten Haniyeh by 48%-38%, so the shift is dramatic. The current poll also found that Hamas’s popularity as a movement increased in the same period from 28% to 33%, while Fatah’s dropped from 42% to 40%.
The poll indeed attributes the change to the effect of Cast Lead in bolstering sympathy for Hamas, along with the official end of Abbas’s tenure in office and resultant loss of legitimacy.
Fatah could still win, though—if it fielded the right candidate. If Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti were to run instead of Abbas, he would handily defeat Haniyeh by a margin of 61%-34%. The trouble is that Barghouti is in jail, having been given five life sentences by an Israeli civilian court in 2004 on five counts of murder in his role as leader of the violent Tanzim faction of Fatah during the Second Intifada. Read more ...e
A poll published this week by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that, at present, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh would defeat Fatah-affiliated, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, 47%-45%, if elections were held in the West Bank and Gaza.
Three months ago, before Operation Cast Lead, Abbas would have beaten Haniyeh by 48%-38%, so the shift is dramatic. The current poll also found that Hamas’s popularity as a movement increased in the same period from 28% to 33%, while Fatah’s dropped from 42% to 40%.
The poll indeed attributes the change to the effect of Cast Lead in bolstering sympathy for Hamas, along with the official end of Abbas’s tenure in office and resultant loss of legitimacy.
Fatah could still win, though—if it fielded the right candidate. If Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti were to run instead of Abbas, he would handily defeat Haniyeh by a margin of 61%-34%. The trouble is that Barghouti is in jail, having been given five life sentences by an Israeli civilian court in 2004 on five counts of murder in his role as leader of the violent Tanzim faction of Fatah during the Second Intifada. Read more ...e
Source: FrontPage Magazine
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
Posts
