New poll reveals: Majority of WB Palestinians support Hamas

Palestinians are “frustrated” with Israel, “They may turn to Hamas not because it’s Hamas, but because it’s the movement that opposes negotiations with Israel.”

 

The majority of Palestinians have said that they support Hamas’s response to the latest Israel-Gaza conflict, according to a new poll by a research center in Ramallah.

A Palestinian Hamas supporter with her child attends a Hamas rally marking the 25th anniversary of the Islamist movement's foundation, in Nablus, northern West Bank, on Dec. 13, 2012.

A Palestinian Hamas supporter with her child attends a Hamas rally marking the 25th anniversary of the Islamist movement’s foundation, in Nablus, northern West Bank, on Dec. 13, 2012. – Photo: ATEF SAFADI/EPA

According to the 1200-person survey by the Arab World Research and Development Center, nearly 90 per cent of Palestinians living in the West Bank supported the terrorist organization’s bold response in comparison to that of Fatah.

Hamas leaders openly supported a cascade of rocket attacks on Israel and said they would “open the gates of hell” in response to the assassination of senior Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari.

Hillel Frisch, an expert on Palestinian politics at Bar Ilan University, told The Times of Israel that Palestinians were “frustrated” with Israel.

“They may turn to Hamas not because it’s Hamas, but because it’s the movement that opposes negotiations with Israel.”

 

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View original JEWISH CHRONICLE ONLINE publication at: http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/94492/majority-palestinians-support-hamas-a-new-poll-reveals