66% of Palestinians support armed uprising

Some 67 per cent of Palestinians back the use of knives against Israelis, while 66 per cent support an armed uprising saying “if the current confrontations develop into an armed intifada, such a development would serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not”, a new survey has revealed.

The poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) also found that nearly three-quarters of respondents are opposed to the involvement of “young schoolgirls” in any stabbings.

The current spate of near daily clashes with Israeli soldiers has led to the death of over 120 Palestinian, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean since the beginning of October. A large number of the Palestinians killed have been young, including teenagers, either executed for allegedly carrying out stabbing attacks or shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the events of the last three months as a “justified popular uprising” and said that young Palestinian demonstrators were “driven by despair [at the fact] that a two-state solution is not coming”.

Two-thirds of respondents, however, said that Israel’s expansion of settlements has made a two-state solution no longer viable, and the same number also want Abbas, whose mandate expired in 2009, to resign.

Some 1,270 people took part in the poll in 127 randomly selected locations. Of them, 90 per cent said they believe Israel does not abide by the Oslo agreement and 68 per cent support abandoning it.

“The Palestinian public thinks Abbas does not support the current confrontation and is not serious [pursuing] diplomatic confrontation with Israel, which is why he is losing support,” Khalil Shikaki, head of the PSR, told AFP. He also said the poll suggests the violence will continue during 2016, with the possible involvement of more heavily armed militants.

“The armed militants in refugee camps, including Fatah [Abbas’s party] have not moved so far, but a change in behaviour of Israeli forces, the loss of legitimacy of leaders and a process of demoralisation within Palestinian security forces could lead to more attacks,” Shikaki explained.