Background
Since the
domination of Hamas movement over the Gaza Strip, it has become obvious that
the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has become completely impaired. Such
reality prompted President Abu Mazen to issue a group of presidential decrees
in the form of laws the most important of which was amending the elections law
to make the whole country one electoral circle. This amendment was rejected by
Hamas considering the President's decree unconstitutional. In Gaza, the PLO
factions called upon all citizens to hold the Friday prayer in the open,
instead of holding it in mosques since, they believe, Hamas uses mosques for
incitement. Hamas denied such allegations and issued a religious decree (fatwa)
denying the sanctity and holiness of prayers outside mosques (in the open). The
Executive Force encountered the worshippers, beat them and arrested several.
Even media personnel were not spared harassments. Such harassments were
condemned by several Palestinian factions and civil society institutions
considering them attacks on public liberties and an attempt to confound people.
On the side of negotiations, meetings between President Abbas and the Israeli
Prime Minister continued aiming at laying out a detailed frame work for a
Palestinian Israeli solution that will be discussed in the international
meeting intended to take place in the coming fall.
The Results
Following are the results of the 30th Palestinian Public Opinion Poll
conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah
National University during the period from 13-15 September, 2007. The
University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center. Palestinian public
opinion poll no. 30 undertakes the current political realities especially the
incidents that took place in the Gaza Strip, the domination of Hamas over the
Strip, the accompanying development on the Palestinian arena, in addition to
political affiliations. The sample included 1360 persons whose age group is 18
and above and who have the right to vote. The enclosed questionnaire was
distributed on 860 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 3.8% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.