68.9% of Palestinians express optimism regarding the Mecca Agreement and the new government

The general public wants the new government to end the economic suffering first and then to stop the security chaos

29.2% of Palestinians will not participate in the elections if they happen now; 31.6% said they will vote for Fatah Movement while 24.3% said they will vote for Hamas and 14.9 will vote for other lists

82.4% of the Palestinians view the role of US Secretary of State Rice in reviving the peace process as negative

* A public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) after the formation of the national unity government - during the period between 19 and 21 March 2007 - shows that a significant majority of the Palestinian public are optimistic regarding the current government with regards to handling the basic problems of the Palestinians people. A ratio of (68.9%) of the sample expects that the national unity government would end the state of security chaos while 25.5% said the government will not succeed. A ratio of 63.9% expects the government to succeed in ending the siege imposed on the Palestinian people compared with 29.1% who believe otherwise.

* The poll with a sample of 1,198 persons (757 in the West Bank and 441 in Gaza Strip) showed the priorities of the government as perceived by the Palestinian public. A majority said that the first priority of the government must be to tackle the hard financial and economic conditions of the Palestinian people. Ending security chaos and enforcing law and order came in second place. Palestinians view reform and combating as occupying the third rank.

* When asked whether Mecca Agreement is capable of ending the Palestinian crisis, a majority (61.2%) said the current government can end the crisis compared with 32.9% who said the opposite.

* With regards to the satisfaction of the public over the performance of the previous government, a ratio of 44% of those who voted for Hamas in the PLC elections said the tenth government didn’t rise to the level of their expectations.

* A majority of the respondents (60.8%) said signs of chaos and absence of the rule of the law increased under the previous government with only 11.1% who said the chaos decreased.

* On the issue of reform, the highest ratio of respondents believe that the previous government didn’t have any influence on the reforms undergoing in the PNA while the ratio of those who believe that the previous assisted in pushing the reform process forward came equal to the ratio of those who think that the previous government impeded the reform process.

* In the same manner, a ratio of 52.9% said nepotism and favoritism existed to a large or medium extent in the government posts appointments under the previous government headed by Ismail Haniyeh while 39.8% said there was either no nepotism or minimal level of nepotism.

* At the level of assessing the performance of the previous government, the poll showed that 36.1% view the performance of the previous council of ministers as bad compared with 25% who view it as good. With regards to assessment of the security services, a majority (47.9%) said its performance was bad compared with 17.4% who said the performance of the security service was good.

* The negative assessment also applies to the performance of the health and social affairs apparatuses. On the other hand, a ratio of 44.2% of the respondents assessed the performance of PM Haniyeh as positive while 23.1% saw his performance as bad.

* On the performance of the Palestinian Legislative Council, a ratio of 34.1% believe it was bas while 23% assessed the PLC performance as positive.

* Despite the relatively negative assessment of the performance of the previous government headed by Haniyeh, a ratio of 33.7% said the performance of the previous government was better than the performance of the government of Ahmad Qurei' compared with 28.5% who believed the opposite. Moreover, a majority of 35.8% of the Palestinian respondents said the level of corruption decreased during the previous Hamas government when compared with the Fatah government in the past and a ratio of 25.9% think the opposite.

* If elections happen today and if the same electoral blocs nominated themselves, Fatah Movement would get 31.6% of the votes compared with 24.3% who would vote for Change and Reform List (Hamas). All other lists and blocs would suffer slight drop in support but the striking result is that a ratio of 29.2% said they will not participate in the elections if they happen today.

* With regards to the optimism of the Palestinians regarding the peace process and future, the poll results show that the Palestinian public is optimistic towards the future. A ratio of 67.8% said they feel optimistic towards the future in general compared with 54.2% in June 2006. the ratio of Palestinians who feel optimistic regarding reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict also rose to 44.9% this March compared with 34.0% in June 2006.

* On the position regarding the recent international diplomatic activities, a majority of the Palestinians 82.4% believe that the US Secretary of State is playing a negative role in the region compared with 11.5% who say that her role is positive. Moreover, a majority of the respondents view the recent diplomatic efforts of Rice as making the image of the United States worse compared with 4.6% who believe that her efforts improved the image of the United States. A ratio of 46.3% thinks the efforts of Secretary Rice have not affected the image of the United States in the region.

* With regards to Germany which is the current President of the European Union, a ratio of 34.6% of the respondents said its role as President of the EU is bad while 35.7% said its role is average and 11.9% described Germany's role as President of the EU as good.

* With regards to the German position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a ratio of 61.1% of the respondents said Germany is biased more towards Israel compared with only 4.3% who said Germany is biased more with the Palestinians and 21.5% said Germany's position is neutral.

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