I discussed this recent poll last week, based on a Jerusalem Post report. Today, the complete polling data has been released.
The results show that the great majority of Palestinian Arabs do not support the idea of a peaceful two-state solution. Some of the numbers that I note are these:
- 52% agree that they “do not accept a two-state solution,” while only 44% said they accepted it
- 56% are “not so certain that Israel will exist 25 years from now as a Jewish state with a Jewish majority
- Only 7% agreed that “Israel has a permanent right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people” while 84% thought that “over time Palestinians must work to get back all the land for a Palestinian state”
- 92% thought that Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine while only 3% thought it should be shared
These last three points imply that the two-state solution, where it is accepted, is only accepted as a tactical station on the way to the elimination of the Jewish state, part of the implementation of the PLO’s ‘phased plan‘.
Attitudes towards Hamas seem to indicate that Palestinians approve of its approach to the Jews and Israel, although they don’t want to be ruled by it. Most do not reject partnering with an explicitly genocidal, terrorist group:
- 81% support the agreement between Fatah and Hamas
- Of those, 74% would continue to support it even if it resulted in reduction of aid
- 55% of those who support the agreement believe it will make peace between Israel and the Palestinians less likely
But Hamas is not a popular choice to rule ‘Palestine’. When asked who they would vote for if elections were held today, 46% chose Fatah and only 17% Hamas. Nevertheless, the basic ideas of Hamas are popular:
- 73% said they “believed” the quotation from the Quran in the Hamas covenant that “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him… “
- 80%: “For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.”
- 62%: “When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the (Islamic) Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.”
Interestingly, violence as a tactic is not so popular.
- ‘Only’ 45% agreed with the Hamas Covenant statement that “Peace initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.
- Only 32% say that they would support a Third Intifada.
Some have suggested that this indicates a hopeful trend toward compromise and coexistence. But I think that we can see by the continued rejection of Israel’s existence, the support for the antisemitic Hamas platform, and the implication that a two-state solution is a stage in the acquisition of all of the land, that this is only a tactical decision — a recognition that the diplomatic offensive has brought them closer to their goal than the intifadas or Hamas’ rocket attacks (of course, a certain degree of violence is needed to move the diplomatic track along).
Shimon Peres’ remark quoted by Shula in the cartoon above was likely based on questions about what the highest priority of a new Palestinian government should be. Depending on the way the question was asked, 75 or 83% said that it was to “create new jobs.” But although some of the other alternatives offered related to Israel — one was “get Israel to lift roadblocks and ease movement” — there was none that was even close to “promote the elimination of Israel in favor of a Palestinian state from the river to the sea,” which I believe would be a clear winner.
If you think that I’m mistaken, here are some other results, shocking in what they imply about the Palestinian Arab mindset:
- When asked to quantify their feelings about various people and institutions on a scale of 1 to 100 (100 is the most positive), Dalal Mughrabi got a mean rating of 69.84 — higher than Fatah (61.18) or Hamas (39.85). She was second only to Yasser Arafat, who received 88.92. Dalal Mughrabi was the terrorist who led the Bus of Blood attack in 1978 which killed 36 people, 13 of them children. Jews, on the other hand, got a 4.9 rating and Israel a 1.82. A “two state solution with independent Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel as a Jewish state” was given 19.12.
- 62% think that kidnapping Israel soldiers and holding them hostage is right
- An incredible 29% think that “the killings in Itamar,” where five members of a Jewish family, including a 2-month old baby were viciously stabbed to death, were right!
- 61% think that naming streets after people like Dalal Mughrabi is right
- 53% think that teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools is right
- 72% think that denying that Jews have a history going back thousands of years in Jerusalem is right
- 22% think that firing rockets at Israeli cities and citizens is right (my guess is that many who disagree do so for tactical reasons)
- 56% favor the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and 51% oppose his release.
These are the people that President Obama thinks “must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state” next door to a truncated Israel. Let’s hope they never reach their “full potential” for evil, which is truly remarkable.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Palestinian Arabs, TIP-Greenberg poll, terrorism, two-state solution
Here is the sort of occurrance – this survey and the LACK of media attention, is why I take such a conspiratorial view towards events surrounding Israel.
A media that had some semblance of objectivity, of simply trying to get to the truth of the matter on important issues of the day – and given the amount of press Israel receives, I’d say this counts for that, maybe more than it really should – would have this survey all over the place. It would be discussed all over the major news networks, would be commented on in op-eds in major and minor newspapers, etc.
Of course, it isn’t.
Now, if there were a survey that was the mirror image of this one – that portrayed Israelis as being similarly murderous towards the Palestinians, we’d see this EVERYWHERE.
And we all know that these facts, as they relate to this on instance, are not in the least random or unusual.
Sadly, we’ve become “used to” this environment, where the major media all around us, treats Israel and those who support her like DIRT.
Kind of like living next to a garbage dump. Of course it really does smell terrible, but if you live in that environment day in and day out, it gets to the point where you really don’t notice anymore.
Well, I guess I have some kind of psychological defect, ‘cuz I DON’T GET USED TO THIS CRAP. I AM OUTRAGED.
We should all be, that what Vic relates above is treated like a tree that falls in the forest when no one is around.