PA calls Gaza killing/kidnapping
“daring”
New York – A new joint Palestinian-Israeli opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research (PCPSR) that interviewed 1270 Palestinian adults between June 15 and June 18 has found that 56% of Palestinians support terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel. This marks a rise from 52% support for such terrorist acts recorded by PCPSR in March. Other poll findings show that 55% of Palestinians oppose a refugee settlement that does not encompass the so-called ‘right of return,’ whereby Palestinian refugees of the 1948-49 war and their descendants would inundate Israel and destroy it from within. The poll also shows that 74% of Palestinians support the so-called ‘Prisoners Document’ put up for a referendum by Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas, that sanctions terrorism against Israeli civilians and does not call for recognizing Israel (PCPSR, June 26).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “These poll findings confirm the extremism of Palestinian attitudes and underscore the fact that the PA leadership, past and present, has helped produce these results. A PA that consistently fails to implement its commitments under signed agreements and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan to arrest, jail and extradite terrorists, confiscate illegal weapons and close the bomb factories while also permitting the incitement to hatred and murder in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth camps is not one that can be a peace partner for Israel. A PA which names streets, sports teams and border crossings for Palestinian suicide bombers and describes on its official website as a ‘daring Palestinian attack’ yesterday’s killing and wounding of Israeli soldiers and kidnapping of a soldier is, to say the least, not one that is fighting, discouraging or condemning terrorism.
“These findings are important because they indicate that more unilateral concessions and other rewards to the PA like last year’s Gaza withdrawal do not moderate Palestinians or induce Palestinians to even start fulfilling their obligations as so many apologists for the Palestinians argue. Until Palestinians start implementing their commitments, we can expect poll results like this to be duplicated. There should be no US or Israeli concessions or rewards to the PA under existing conditions.”