Background The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
submitted a bid to the United Nations (UN) requesting full membership and a
recognition of the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with East
Jerusalem as its capital. President Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech at the UN and
submitted the membership application. The application was forwarded to the
Security Council to be studied and voted on. The USA threatened to use the veto
if such petition is presented to the Security Council. An agreement has been
signed between Israel and Hamas in Cairo by which Gilad Shalit will be released
in return for that Israel will release 1027 Palestinian prisoners, some from
among them are sentenced to long term imprisonment. The division
between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip persists and each side adheres to its
precepts without any signs for an imminent end of this division.
The Results Following are the results of the Palestinian Public Opinion
Poll no. 43 conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at
An-Najah National University during the period from 13-15 October 2011. The
University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center. Palestinian Public
Opinion Poll no 43 undertakes Palestinian public opinion in the emerging
political realities on the Palestinian scene, the PLO’s bid for a full
membership in the UN and the recognition of the State of Palestine within
the 1967 borders and their ensuing consequences. The poll also undertakes the
prisoners exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, the possibility of conducting
presidential, legislative and local council and municipality elections, the
performance of the Governments of Salam Fayyad and Ismail Haniyeh in addition
to the political affiliations of Palestinian people. The sample included
1361 persons whose age group is 18 and above and who have the right to vote.
The enclosed questionnaire was distributed on 861 persons from the West Bank
and 500 persons from the Gaza Strip. The sample was drawn randomly and the
margin of error is about ±3%; still 2.4% of the members of the sample refused
to answer the questionnaire The opinions represented in the results reflect
those of the study; they do not, by any means, represent the opinion of
An-Najah National University.