Ever since Hamas won the Gaza elections it has become fashionable to refer to the vast majority of peace-loving Palestinians who want to forsake the jihad and coexist with Israel, but who just can’t manage to elect leaders who reflect their deepest desires.
The facts, unfortunately, are otherwise.
“New Poll: Palestinians Support Suicide Bombings By 55% To 37%,” from the ZOA, February 6:
A new poll has shown that Palestinians support continued suicide bombings against Israel by 55.4 percent as compared to 37.6 percent who oppose it. The poll, conducted by Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, also found:
· That 50.8 percent of Palestinian believe that rocket attacks upon Israel from Gaza help Palestinians achieve their goals, as against 20.8 percent who believe such attacks harm the attainment of Palestinian goals;
· If elections were held today, 28.6 percent of Palestinians would vote for Hamas and 27.9 percent of Palestinians would vote for Fateh;
· Similarly, 27.7 percent of Palestinians most trust Hamas while 26 percent most trust Fateh. (Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, Poll No. 67, January 2009).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is often said that Palestinians no longer embrace a program for eliminating Israel, but merely wish to live in their own independent state within the territories Israel captured in 1967. As a result, many conclude that Israel has an obligation to negotiate a peaceful outcome with Palestinians. However, this poll and others show that the majority of Palestinians continue to support unreconstructed terror movements that do not accept Israel’s existence as well as further suicide bombings and rocket attacks upon Israel. This demonstrates that that Palestinians do continue to embrace Israel’s elimination.
“One seemingly contradictory finding in the poll showed that 54.8 percent of Palestinians favored setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as opposed to 18.4 percent who openly sought a single, bi-national state. However, there is a November 2007 poll which shows something similar (67.1 percent of Palestinians supported ‘the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories’) but which also went on to ask the pertinent question — ‘Do you support or reject the creation of two states on the historic land of Palestine (a Palestinian state and Israel)?’ — which most Palestinians (54.3 percent) rejected.
“In short, as we pointed out at the time, most Palestinians do not accept Israel’s existence as a Jewish state even if they support the idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside it for now. They simply regard a Palestinian state as a useful step towards one day removing Israel from the region….
Read it all.