27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Palestinian perceptions
A recent survey reveals that more and more Palestinians have lost faith in negotiations, see violence as their only option, and are less willing to negotiate with Israel. Jasper Thornton writes
After a year in which snipersÕ bullets have mown down their children, Israeli tanks and bulldozers have flattened their homes, US-made rockets have turned their families and leaders into moist soot and the world has shown a staggering disregard for their rights under international law, it should come as no surprise that few Palestinians still have faith in the Oslo peace process. This was one of the findings of the Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre, an NGO based in East Jerusalem, which conducted a survey of 1,198 people over the age of 18 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip between 11 and 17 September. The survey also revealed that, more than ever, the Palestinians favour the use of force against Israel as the only meaningful way to have their grievances heard.
The results of the survey will make sober reading for the diplomats. Last June, almost 40 per cent of Palestinians trusted the Oslo accord as a road to peace. Now barely 30 per cent feel the same way. The vast majority (84.6 per cent) feel violence is an appropriate response to the current circumstances; those who repudiate it wholesale, are a minority of 9.9 per cent. And 82 per cent feel Israel itself, not just the occupied territories, is a legitimate object for whatever force the Palestinians can muster. Recently, a spate of suicide bombings have killed several Israeli civilians.
Support for the Intifada has increased over the year (from 80.2 per cent to 85.3 per cent). The Palestinians want more from their Intifada, too. The number of people supporting the traditional Palestinian Authority aim of regaining the land taken in 1967, according to UN resolution 242, has dropped from 45.2 per cent to 40.1 per cent. Meanwhile almost half of the respondents in the survey feel the IntifadaÕs proper aim is now to Òliberate all Palestine.Ó A corollary of this aim is that support for one state reigning over two nations is growing (almost a third now support it), at the expense of the traditional two-state solution.
The Intifada is strongly perceived as a peopleÕs movement. More people put their faith in it than they do in the Palestinian AuthorityÕs (PA) leaders. Over half of respondents feel the Intifada will achieve its goals, whilst President Yasser ArafatÕs approval rating has slipped from 27.8 per cent last June to 23.5 per cent this September. Accompanying this is a decline in support for Fatah and increased approval for Hamas.
Most Palestinians blame Israeli Prime Minister Ariel SharonÕs provocative visit to Al-Aqsa mosque for the Intifada. The most hated IsraelÕs policies are its assassinations and its checkpoints. Only two per cent of respondents feel the Israeli peace camp is achieving any good.
Of those surveyed, 30 per cent came from villages, 16.4 per cent from refugee camps and 53.6 per cent from cities. Just over half were from the West Bank, a little over 10 per cent were from Jerusalem while just under 40 per cent came from Gaza. The home areas of the respondents read like a newsreel of Palestine under siege: Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqilya, Hebron, Jericho, Ramallah and Al-Bireh in the West Bank, and Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir Al-Balah in the Gaza strip. And, of course, Jerusalem.
These statistics suggest that patience with negotiations, and with the Oslo peace process, has withered almost to nothing. Violence is more popular than negotiations, and many want the Intifada to accomplish Òthe liberation of all Palestine.Ó Statistics can, of course, mislead, providing only a snapshot of views probably never before articulated. But this latest picture of Palestinian feeling may well give world-policy makers pause.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page