Thursday, June 7, 2007

Poll of Palestinian Arabs belies much propaganda

Near East Consulting conducts monthly polls on perceptions among Palestinian Arabs. The results are rather interesting. Lest anyone think they're cooked up to make Israel look good, Near East Consulting is based in Ramallah.

Among the interesting results of the latest survey, available on the Near East Consulting web site:

51 percent of Palestinian Arabs support firing rockets into Israel, while 66 percent believe there's no benefit from it. Thus at least 17 percent of the Palestinian Arabs clearly just want to murder innocent Israelis for the joy of it. The percentage is even higher if any of the 34 percent who believe there's a benefit from firing rockets into Israel don't support doing so. And it's likely that many of those who support firing rockets and believe there's a benefit would still support firing rockets if they didn't believe there was a benefit from it.

Any way you look at it, the Palestinian Authority has created a sick society.

44 percent of Palestinian Arabs prefer a return to the pre-Oslo situation. In other words, after nearly a decade and a half of vicious anti-Israel propaganda by the Palestinian Authority, nearly half the population of the disputed territories would prefer Israeli rule! So much for those who claim the problem is "Israeli occupation," something that for all practical purposes ended long ago for 95 percent of the population.

Asked about the main issue that made them depressed, only 2 percent cited the so-called Israeli occupation. Economic hardship, the absence of security, the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, being ruled by Hamas and family problems were all greater concerns.

Once again, so much for those who claim the problem is "Israeli occupation."

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