Background:

Despite the fact that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was a unilateral move made by the Israelis without any coordination with the Palestinians, there goes a debate among Palestinians concerning the motives behind the Israeli move. Did it come as a result to a political process? Or is it a result of pressures caused by the Palestinian military resistance?

With the completion of the Israeli pull out from the Strip, there remains the issue of the control over the border crossings hanging without a clear agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Palestinians demand full control over these crossings refusing any Israeli presence. Israel, however agreed on the deployment of Egyptian forces on the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The evacuation of the Israeli settlement from the Gaza Strip was completed quietly since there was an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian armed factions to stop all Palestinian military operations against Israeli targets during the pull out.

The Results:

Following are the results of the Fourteenth Palestinian Public Opinion Poll conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from September 14 to 16, 2005. The University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center.

This poll undertakes several subjects centered around the Palestinian Authority’s call on the national and Islamic factions to join a national coalition government, the chaotic security situation, the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the coming legislative elections, the assessment of the performance of Palestinian Authority’s institutions, the state of democracy and human rights in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in addition to political sympathies and other issues.

The sample included 1360persons whose age group is 18 years and above and who have the right to vote. The sample forms one per thousand from among the total number of Palestinian people of this age group. 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 2.3% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.

To view the full result as pdf (280 KB)