About 70 percent of Palestinians polled across the occupied West Bank and Gaza say they staunchly oppose the disarmament of Hamas, even if that means a return to Israeli attacks, according to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) between 22-25 October and published on Tuesday.
Notably, opposition to the disarmament of Hamas is strongest in the occupied West Bank, where around 80 percent of respondents said they want the group’s armed wing to maintain its weapons. The occupied West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is dominated by Hamas’s secular rival, Fatah.
In Gaza, which endured two years of Israeli assaults in what the United Nations, world leaders and human rights experts have called a genocide, a slimmer majority of Palestinians, 55 percent, said they opposed Hamas’s disarmament.
The poll’s sample size was 1,200 people, of whom 760 were interviewed in the occupied West Bank and 440 in Gaza. The survey was conducted face-to-face, with responses being submitted to servers that PCPSR said only researchers can access. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
Support for Hamas retaining its weapons goes along with deep scepticism over Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
The poll found 62 percent of Palestinians do not think the Trump plan will succeed in ending the war “once and for all”. Pessimism is higher in the occupied West Bank, where 67 percent of respondents were doubtful of the plan, compared to 54 percent in Gaza.
Palestinians were asked for the sixth time since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, whether the operation was correct or incorrect. In previous polls, the number who supported the attack decreased substantially as Israel’s genocide raged.
With the ceasefire now signed, 53 percent of Palestinians said 7 October 2023 was “correct”. Support for the Hamas-led operation was substantially higher in the occupied West Bank, where 59 percent of respondents called it “correct” compared to 44 percent in Gaza.
Hamas remains substantially more popular than Fatah, which dominates the PA and is led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Overall, 35 percent of Palestinians support Hamas compared to 24 percent in favour of Fatah, while 32 percent said they do not support either party or have no opinion.
Hamas outpolls Fatah in the occupied West Bank, where 32 percent of respondents support the group compared to 20 percent for Fatah. In Gaza, support for Hamas is even higher, with 41 percent in favour of the group compared to 29 percent for Fatah.
The vast majority of Palestinians, 60 percent, are satisfied with Hamas’s performance, with 66 percent in the occupied West Bank and 51 percent in Gaza “satisfied”.
According to the poll, the group is vastly more popular than Fatah and the PA, and its support has increased.
When Palestinians were asked about specific national leaders, their reaction to octogenarian President Abbas was deeply negative. Among Palestinians polled, just 23 percent are satisfied with Abbas, while 85 percent want him to resign.
The imprisoned Palestinian official Marwan Barghouti continues to display broad appeal and would win presidential elections if he were to run against Abbas or senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal.
