At the same time, 69% of Gazans said that the Hamas takeover was wrong, and Gazans have more trust in Fatah leaders compared to Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Hanieh : 63% trust Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas more than Hanieh. 62% trusted new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad more than Hanieh. 74% of Gazans have a moderate or high level of confidence in Fayyad. If elections were held today, 45% of Gazans said they would vote for Fatah, 22% said they would vote for Hamas, and 8% said they would vote for other Palestinian parties. 25% would not participate in these. 84% said that their support for Fatah would rise if the party reforms itself. Remarkably, this figure includes 60% of Hamas supporters.
54% of Gazans believe that the armed military wings of all factions should be dissolved (35% among Hamas supporters, 63% among Fatah supporters), while 35% hold the view that these armed wings should be kept as they are (56% among Hamas supporters, 20% among Fatah supporters. 8% say that the military wing of Hamas should be dissolved, while 2% believe that the Fatah military wing should be dissolved. 88% oppose the policy of detaining Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
Writing about Abbas' efforts against the Hamas government, Ha'aretz columnist Danny Rubinstein notes that, the chances he will succeed "are slim. The reason is well known: Abu Mazen and Fatah have nothing to sell the Palestinian public. The vision of the independent state in the West Bank and Gaza , with East Jerusalem as its capital, gradually dissipated during the years of the Oslo process. What finally destroyed it were the continuing violence and terror, the number of settlers, which doubled (from about 100,000 in 1990 to about 200,000 in 2000), and the new Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and its environs. Instead of reconciliation and coexistence, is the feeling [among Palestinians], we got an intifada, murderous attacks, separation walls, settlement blocs and an apartheid state."
Rubenstein warns that "when the hope of establishing a state within the territories, with Jerusalem as its capital, is lost, one can undertake to fight Israel to the finish, as Hamas proposes, or give up and say, under these circumstances, let there be occupation. In other words, make the State of Israel take full responsibility for the territories. Sooner or later Hamas will fail in its war against Israel . But that does mean that there will then be a return to the days of Oslo and the two-state vision, which has withered and died since September 2000. Rather, there will be increasingly strong demands by Palestinian Arabs, who constitute almost half the inhabitants of this land, who will say: Under the present conditions we cannot establish a state of our own, and what remains for us is to demand civil rights in the country that is our homeland."
This may be why Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is making the case for a political horizon based on serious political dialogue with Abbas, a measure which the Israeli public will support. 66% of Israelis support negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas on a final status agreement, according to a new Gal Hadash poll published by the Geneva Initiative. The poll also found that 50% of Israelis believe that Abbas is a "partner with whom the opportunity must not be squandered" while 31% preferred to wait for another Palestinian leader. 44% said that they would support a series of gestures that would take place along with a renewal of negotiations, including providing tax funds to the Palestinians, removal of roadblocks, release of prisoners, and renewed security cooperation with forces loyal to Abbas. Only 35% said that they would oppose these steps.
When asked about final status issues, Israelis generally showed flexibility. 57% supported allowing Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem to be under Arab sovereignty. 56% supported a formula in which the Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall would remain in Israeli hands while the mosques and the Arab quarters went to Palestinian control. 52% supported the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state along with security provisions for Israel . 65% supported a reciprocal announcement of the end of the conflict. At the same time, 59% opposed the return of Palestinian refugees to the Palestinian state and even a limited entrance of refugees to Israel . Overall 55% said that they would support an agreement that included all of these elements, while only 27% said that they would oppose it.
Israelis are also willing to talk to Hamas. 57% support contacts with Hamas in order to "establish a ceasefire, prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza , sort out the issue of passages, create basic economic conditions, and bring about the release of Gilad Shalit ."
64% said they support increased involvement by the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian process. Only 32% said they would oppose it. (Heskem.org.il, 7/11/07 ; IMRA, 7/16/07 ; Ha'aretz, 7/16/07 )
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento