PSR Poll: Terrorist Abbas 52%; Terrorist Haniyeh 40%
June 10, 2008, 1:10 pm |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ popularity has increased over his rival Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. This is according to a poll “conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR),” and reported by the Jerusalem Post (see summary below). Is this good news? There is a popular misconception that Abbas (Fatah) is more “moderate” than Haniyeh (Hamas), and Abbas would be better for peace with Israel.
Abbas’ Ph.D. thesis and subsequent book was entitled, “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism” (Holocaust denial). Abbas was one of the founding members of the PLO/Fatah, a group which terrorized Israelis for decades. He had great influence over the 1993 Oslo deal, which led to the “most sustained wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israeli history.” The Palestinian Authority never lived up to its Oslo commitments. Also note that:
If you’re still interested, here’s the Jerusalem Post:
… According to the poll, whose results were released Saturday, if new presidential elections were held today - and given a choice between Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the former would receive the support of 52 percent and the latter 40%. This is a significant change from a poll conducted by the PSR in March according to which Abbas would get 46% compared to 47% for Haniyeh.
The PRS mentioned Hamas’s failure in bringing about the reopening the Rafah border crossing and reaching a cease-fire deal with Israel as some of the possible reasons for its decline.
Abbas was also the more popular peacemaker, with 49% of the Palestinians saying that Abbas was more able than Hamas to reach a peace agreement with Israel while only 15% said the Hamas government was more able to do so.
Interestingly, 41% believed that the PA under Abbas is more able than Hamas’s government to force Israel to make more concessions to the Palestinians while only 25% believed Hamas was more able to do so. …
Related: Israel, Palestinians, Terrorist Groups