Background

President Mahmoud Abbas announced the 26th of July the date for conducting a referendum on the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners. By making this announcement, the President put an end to all disputes concerning conducting the referendum. Abbas has made it clear more than once that the referendum is a means and not an end in itself; if the on-going debate among the Palestinian political factions reaches an agreement on the National Conciliation Document of the prisoners, the agreement will be an alternative to the referendum.

Following the President's move, the PLC members began studying the legal implication of the referendum and Hamas hastened to refuse the mere idea of conducting a referendum considering national debate as the only way to settle differences among Palestinians. Further, Hamas considered the referendum a way that by passes the last Legislative Council elections. The Public Front made its reservations on the referendum, but did not reject it. The political factions that support the referendum point out that the Palestinian people are the only source of power that determines the final say in disputed issues. They maintain that the referendum does not evade the results of the elections, and that the basic Palestinian law does not prohibit such procedure.

The Results

Following are the results of the 21st Palestinian Public Opinion Poll conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from June 12 to 13, 2006. The University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center.

This poll undertakes the opinion of Palestinian public concerning the upcoming political issues, particularly the proposed referendum on the National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners, in addition to an assessment of the performance of the Palestinian Presidential Institution and the Palestinian Government

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 3.3% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.

The General Results:

• 70.3% from among respondents express their pessimism towards the general Palestinian situation at this stage.
• Under the current situation, 88.1% from among respondents do not feel secure neither for themselves nor for their families and properties.
• 51.8% from among respondents assess the performance of the Palestinian President as "good"
• The following percentages given by respondents assess the performance of the Palestinian Government in different domains as "good"
  Its general performance 42.8%
  Its performance in maintaining security 40%
  Its performance in developing the economy 22.6%
  Its performance in developing health care 43.3%
  Its performance in developing international relations 29.2%
• 66.9% from among respondents say that their economic situation under the current circumstances is deteriorating.
• 64.1% from among respondents consider the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the only legitimate representative of Palestinian people.
• 56.4% from among respondents support the Palestinian President's decision to hold a referendum on the National Conciliation Document of Prisoners; 38 % reject the referendum.
• 59.1% from among respondents support the referendum if the Palestinian national debate fails to reach an agreement on the Prisoners' Document; 37.8% support conducting the referendum even if the national debate succeeds in reaching an agreement.
• 79.8% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for Palestinian People's right to establish their independent Palestinian state on all territories occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.
• 80.1% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for developing and activating the PLO and the joining of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements to the PLO which is the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people wherever they are located.
• 79.5% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for the right of the Palestinian people in resistance and in clinging to the various means of resistance and which calls for concentrating resistance in the 1967 occupied territories alongside with political action, negotiations, diplomatic action and the continuation of popular and mass resistance against the occupation in its various forms, policies and places of existence.
• 76.4% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for setting up a Palestinian plan towards comprehensive political action and to unify the Palestinian political discourse on the basis of the Palestinian national consensus, the Arab legitimacy and the international resolution that grant justice to the Palestinian people who are represented by the PLO, the PNA (as president and government) and the Islamic and national factions.
• 85.9% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for forming a national coalition government on a basis that secures the participation of all parliamentary blocs, especially Fateh and Hamas and the political forces that desire to participate on the basis of this document and a joint program to upgrade the Palestinian situation on the local, Arab, regional and international levels – a strong national government that would face challenges and enjoy Palestinian political support.
• 67.5% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which states that the administration of the negotiations is the jurisdiction of the PLO and the President of the PNA on the basis of adhering to the Palestinian national goals and achieving these goals on condition that any final agreement must be presented to the new PNC for ratification or put to a general referendum whenever it is possible.
• 92.1% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which stresses the refugees' right of return clings to their rights and to call on the international community to implement resolution 194 which stipulates the right of refugees to return and to be compensated.
• 88.6% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for forming a unified resistance front under the name "Palestinian resistance front" to lead and engage in resistance against the occupation and to unify and coordinate action and resistance and to form a unified political reference for this front.
• 92.2% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for denouncing all forms of split that can lead to internal conflicts, condemning the use of arms in solving internal conflicts, banning the use of arms among the members of the Palestinian people, stressing on the sanctity of the Palestinian blood and abiding by dialogue as the only means of solving disagreements.
• 89.8% from among respondents support the item in the Prisoners' Document which calls for the need to reform and develop the Palestinian security institution with all its branches on modern basis and in a manner that makes it more capable of assuming its task in defending the homeland and the citizens, in confronting the aggression and the occupation, in maintaining security and public order, in implementing the laws and ending the state of chaos and security outlaw state, in ending the forms of public armed presence and parades and in confiscating chaotic weapons.
• 48.7% from among respondents support holding early legislative elections in case the national dialogue reaches a dead end.
• 35.7% from among respondents support holding early legislative elections if the referendum on the Prisoners' Document succeeds.
• 43.6% from among respondents support holding early legislative elections if the referendum on the Prisoners' Document fails.
• As for political affiliation respondents give the following results:

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