A new poll has shown that 51% of Palestinians support the terrorist attack upon Israeli civilians carried out by Hamas terrorists on August 31 near Bani Nayim in which four Israeli civilians, including pregnant woman, were murdered. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) during September 30 – October 2, found that only a minority of 44% of Palestinians opposed this attack. The poll also found that Palestinians overwhelmingly oppose by 76% to 20% a PA security crackdown on Hamas, which has vied with the Fatah-controlled PA for power and seized Gaza from the PA in a violent take-over in 2007. Additionally, the poll also found that 66% of Palestinians favor the PA pulling out of negotiations with Israel, whereas only 30% support continued negotiations (Chana Ya’ar, ‘Poll: Most PA Arabs Back Recent Murder of Israeli Civilians,’ Israel National News, October 5, 2010).
Other polls in recent years sowing majority Palestinian support for terrorism that targets Israelis:
- January 2009: a Jerusalem Media & Communications Center poll found that 55.4% of Palestinians support continued suicide bombings against Israel, as against 37.6% who oppose it. (Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, Poll No. 67, January 2009)
- March 2008: 83.5% of Palestinians approve of the March 6 terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem in which 8 people, mainly teenagers, were murdered and a further 40 wounded; 63.6% support rocket attacks on Israeli towns, as against 32.6% who oppose it. (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll, March 2008).
· September 2006: 57% of Palestinian Arabs support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians; 75% support the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in a bid to obtain the release of jailed Palestinians terrorists; 63% are inspired by the Lebanese Islamist terror group Hizballah and seek to emulate it (Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) poll, September 2006).
· September 2006: 61.3% of Palestinian Arabs support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians; 52.5% support rocket attacks upon Israeli population centers (Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah University, September 7-9, 2006).
· June 2006: 56% of Palestinians support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians (Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research (PCPSR) poll, June 2006).
· February 2006: 56.2% support terrorism against Israeli civilians (Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) poll, February 8-12, 2006).
· December 2005: 69% of Palestinians see terrorism as legitimate; 65% support Al-Qaeda actions in the USA and Europe (Fafo poll, December 22, 2005).
· April 2003: 75.6% of Palestinian Arabs support terrorism against Israeli civilians (Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) poll, April 2003).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This poll, unfortunately, merely confirms the results of innumerable earlier polls, some of which we have cited above, showing Palestinians to approve of terrorism that targets innocent Jewish men, women and children and rejecting peace or co-existence with Israel as a Jewish state.
“These findings, like those of dozens of other polls showing Palestinian attitudes towards Israel, negotiations and violence, simply underscore the fact that concessions to Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA), especially concessions leading to Palestinian statehood, would only help to produce the world’s newest terrorist state. It would be folly for either Israel or the United States to support the establishment of a Palestinian state under such conditions and it noteworthy that the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, former CIA director R. James Woolsey and pre-eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis have all come out in opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state under present conditions.”